Russia has shown a double point in the Sahara issue by taking the content of UN Security Council resolutions off the back of its hand. In an interview with Egyptian media, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke of only two sides to the Sahara conflict, forgetting to mention his ally Algeria.

The Russian Foreign Minister thus confirmed in an interview with the Egyptian channel TN that “the crisis in Western Sahara should be resolved like any other crisis based on the decisions of the Security Council”, believing that Morocco and Polisario must proceed with “direct dialogue” to reach a solution and insisted on respecting Security Council resolutions.

“There are decisions of the Security Council that must be respected, that must be implemented. In the case of Western Sahara, there should be a direct dialogue between Polisario and Morocco and negotiations should resume as soon as possible to allow a settlement based on agreement. which is in the interest of both the parties, he declares.

and to call for a referendum as a solution, while it is an option that has not been mentioned in Security Council resolutions for years, because of the impossibility of the organization of this last, and at a time when the Security Council Speaks of a “political, equitable, lasting and mutually acceptable solution, based on agreement” and that the international community recognizes that the Autonomy Initiative, proposed by Morocco in 2007, is a credible and serious solution that fills all the boxes.

With his statement, the head of Russian diplomacy went back years, talking about not only proposals that have shown their limits, but also voluntarily contradicting themselves. On the one hand, he insists on respecting Security Council resolutions, but at the same time, he himself does not respect them when it comes to direct discussions between Polisario and Morocco, and excludes Algeria. .

Indeed, all the latest Security Council resolutions, and in particular the most recent, speak of discussions between “all” parties, namely Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and Polisario. The text of the resolution names each side 5 times.

The Security Council encourages “the resumption of consultations between the new personal envoy and
To build on the progress of Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania (…), “points to the Security Council in its final resolution in one of the 5 references to the parties to the conflict.

In addition, Security Council Resolution 2548 (2020) makes reference to the political process known as the “Round Table”, initiated by the previous personal envoy of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Security Council pays tribute to Horst Köhler, former personal envoy of the Secretary
The motion stated that the general and praised “his efforts to organize the round table process”. And to continue that this round table process brought together 4 parties to the struggle “gave a new impetus to the political process”.

Loyal to its alliance with Algeria, one of its biggest armament customers, Russia refrained from voting on this latest Security Council resolution on the renewal of MINURSO’s mandate, which it referred to today.

Moscow had decided – certainly at the request of Algeria – that the text was unsubstantiated. But the text was not revised between the draft and the final version, which was voted unanimously by 13 votes against two, the other being that of Tunisia, a country that is becoming more and more dependent on liberals. Donations from Algeria.

Yet the text of the resolution was not particularly different from the previous resolutions. He continued to discuss with all parties how to reach a “solution based on an agreement that is political, just, lasting and mutually acceptable”.

except for Algeria which had begun hostilities against Morocco for two years (after the blockade of the road axis at El Guerguet by the Polisario militia, which was abandoned with the agreement of the Algerian authorities, editor’s note) ), with a concentration of hostile actions for a year leading to a complete breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries on its own initiative in August, Algiers began a new strategy guided by its head of diplomacy, Ramtane Lamamara.

The change in Algerian strategy comes from the idea of ​​escaping its responsibility for the creation of the Sahara conflict and supporting separatists, the latter manifesting itself through housing, physical and economic and diplomatic investments. Separatist doctrine against the territorial integrity of Morocco.

Thus, it is in this view that Algeria announced just before the vote of the resolution that it would no longer participate in the Round Table Process, seeking to block the political process and block the new personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General. De Mistura to do his job.