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Western Sahara round table in Geneva
After years of frozen negotiations, the first round table on Western Sahara, convened by UN envoy to Western Sahara Horst Köhler, took place in Geneva, at the UN headquarters, on 5 and 6 December. The meeting, involving direct talks, ended with no clear conclusions, but with the commitment of Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania, to meet again in the course of the first quarter of 2019, probably in March, with the aim to find a “political, pragmatic, and long-lasting solution” to the Sahara conflict. As participants shared a “readiness for further engagement”, Köler stated that all delegations agreed that “cooperation and regional integration, rather than confrontation, were the best way to address the many important challenges facing the region”. The involved countries were represented by their Foreign Ministers while the Polisario Front was represented by Katri Adduh. Naser Bourita, Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister, congratulated Algeria for participating for the first time in this kind of process, but stated that the positive atmosphere in Geneva in itself was “not enough”. He added that “this moment will have an end if there’s no political will”. EU spokesperson stated: “The EU is ready to contribute to measures that can create a positive climate for the talks, as a concrete translation of our complete support for the UN efforts”, but in a released statement, Polisario Front critized the EU for: “securing trade deals with Morocco, which include the territory of Western Sahara in violation of the rulings of the European Court of Justice”.
- The Euromed news are edited by the team of the Euro-Mediterranean Policies Department of the European Institute of the Mediterranean -