The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls on Algeria to contribute to the resolution of the Sahara conflict, according to a first draft of the annual report on the Sahara he will submit to the Security Council later in April. The preliminary report urges in paragraph 48 Algeria and Mauritania to contribute effectively to the UN-led political process aimed at helping the parties to reach a mutually acceptable political solution, reports le360 e-journal, which obtained a copy of the draft. The report likewise affirms that the Sahara peace talks remain a prerogative of the UN solely. This came after the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy to the Sahara Hurst Kohler held talks with AU and EU officials letting some analysts suggest that he might be trying to expand the Sahara peace talks to AU and the EU. Guterres’ report also implies the death of the referendum option, which is now deemed obsolete in favor of a “political solution based on compromise and realism.”

Source: The North Africa Journal April 02, 2018 07:52 UTC