Albares se reúne con el nuevo enviado de la ONU en el Sáhara para trasladarle “el apoyo de España”

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met this Friday in Rome with the new personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura.

"I congratulated him on his appointment and conveyed the commitment of Spain, a member of the Group of Friends of Western Sahara, to support him in relaunching the dialogue", the minister declared on his Twitter account. The meeting, which took place in Rome in the framework of the 7th edition of the Mediterranean Dialogues meeting, was the first meeting of the new special envoy with a member state of the Group of Friends of Western Sahara, made up of Spain, the United States, Russia, France and the United Kingdom.

The Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura was appointed in early October to a post that had been vacant since May 2019, when former German President Horst Koehler resigned for health reasons. During his tenure, Koehler managed to organise two rounds of contacts between the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front, but since he left office the situation has stalled.

Following his appointment, the Department headed by Albares said in a statement that 'Spain supports the central role of the United Nations in the search for a solution in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter' and, for this reason, 'offers its full support to the new personal envoy of the Secretary General in his role to promote understanding between the parties and stability in the region'.