By Hassan Alaoui
This January 12, 2022 will undoubtedly constitute a significant date in the calendar of the United Nations and the agenda of Staffan de Mistura, special envoy to the Sahara of Antonio Guterres. As part of his first mission in the region, he will start with Algeria, then Mauritania, the Tindouf camps, and finally Morocco with a visit to the southern provinces.
Tour scheduled for some time, certainly, but also occurring in a context of unprecedented diplomatic crisis. The fact remains that for the Kingdom of Morocco, serenity is required and the Sahara issue is following a favorable course. Between the departure of Horst Köhler, a former emissary to the Sahara, and the arrival of his successor, Staffan de Mistura, a seasoned diplomat, a lot of water has flowed.
So much so that 2021 will have constituted ” the year of truth », Which turned the tide of events with its share of surprises. In December 2020, the United States, through the solemn voice of outgoing President Donald Trump, decided to recognize the Moroccan character of the Sahara, resulting in the opening of more than twenty consulates of African and Arab countries in Dakhla and Lâayoune. The surprising initiative of Donald Trump, who left the White House in January, was not – quite the contrary – questioned, nor denied by his Democratic successor, Joe Biden. It confirmed a trend in American diplomacy and its attachment to the principle of regional stability in the Maghreb. Above all, it put a stop to Algerian propaganda, nourished by fake-news and vexed threats against Morocco.
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The American recognition of the Moroccan character of the Sahara has obviously changed the course of events. In its wake, the adoption on October 31 by the Security Council of Resolution 2602 in a way precipitated the process, consolidating Morocco in its right, denying on the other hand to Algeria the power of nuisance which it had previously enjoyed. the. Never has the United Nations resolution on the Sahara been so clear on the heavy responsibility of the Algerian government in this conflict. For the second time, the text explicitly designates Algeria as a direct stakeholder and therefore an essential actor in its resolution. From where practically the injunction, no less explicit, which is made to him to participate in the mode of talks and format of the Table of four (Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and Polisario) under the aegis of the UN and led by Staffan de Mistura. Of course, the Algerian government does not hear it that way and shies away, as usual. He uses quibbles and, after having taken part in it the last few times, he rejects the principle of the “format of the tables”, pushes his self-righteousness to the point of asserting that he is not concerned, arguing again, all shame drunk. , that the ” Sahara conflict opposes Morocco and the Polisario “, and everyone… Struck with blindness, the Algerian leaders simply pretended to forget that it was Houari Boumediene, excessively Machiavellian, believing to mislead King Hassan II, sent his army to Amgala in January-February 1976, violating Moroccan territory and the Treaty of Friendship signed in January 1969 in Ifrane with King Hassan II.
After having loudly demanded a self-determination referendum in the Sahara, Algiers quite simply sabotaged it, after the late Hassan II, present at the OAU Summit in Nairobi in 1980, had accepted the principle. She quite simply rejected the census of tribes originating in the Moroccan Sahara to accept only the Polisario and his henchmen. However, the so-called Sahrawis who serve as a facade for the Algerian suicidal game, represent only a tiny minority parked in camps in Tindouf Lahmada, torn by force from their families, cohabiting willingly or unwillingly with populations forcibly recovered in the desert, brought back to the camps, Malians, Mauritanians, Nigerians, and thus swelling the ranks of what Algiers passes off as Sahrawis …
So what good is a mission of the UN envoy to the region if, primarily concerned, Algeria does not respect the law or the UN resolutions, if it does only his head and rapes them with impunity? By what right would it impose its whims on the international community? And why would the UN continue to cover up its game, to tolerate its sabotage?