This was confirmed by the spokesman for the UN Secretary General

De Mistura tendrá reuniones bilaterales con Marruecos y el Polisario antes de la sesión del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas de abril

photo_camera AFP/FABRICE COFFRINI - Staffan de Mistura, United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Western Sahara

Staffan de Mistura, special envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara, will hold "bilateral meetings" with Morocco and the Polisario Front before the next session of the UN Security Council in April.  

This was confirmed at a press conference by Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary General, António Guterres. Dujarric said the meetings would take place before the next briefing of the UN Security Council. 

Sidi Mohammed Omar, Polisario Front representative to the UN, also confirmed these upcoming meetings on social media. According to Omar, the meetings will take place before the next UN Security Council briefing in April.

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Representatives from Algeria, Mauritania and members of the "Group of Friends", including Spain, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France, will also take part, as confirmed by the Europa Press agency.  

It is therefore a return to dialogue after the Polisario Front declared the ceasefire broken in November 2020 due to clashes with Morocco at the border crossing of Guerguerat, the zone of détente agreed by both parties. Previously, there had been armed conflict between Morocco and the Polisario organisation since the end of the Spanish colonial era until 1991, when a ceasefire was declared with a view to political negotiations to resolve the Saharawi conflict. 

Staffan de Mistura recently visited the Tindouf camps in Algeria to see the difficult living conditions of the Sahrawi refugees in this area controlled by the Polisario Front, which receives support from Algeria on this issue vis-à-vis Morocco. It is worth noting here the political confrontation between Algeria and Morocco on a number of issues, but above all on the question of Western Sahara. The differences are abysmal and the relationship complicated, especially since the Algerian state broke off diplomatic relations with the Moroccan kingdom after accusing the latter of alleged interference in internal affairs and "hostile acts". 

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Western Sahara is a major bone of contention between Morocco and Algeria. The Moroccan kingdom is garnering strong international support for its formula proposing a broad autonomy for the Sahrawi territory under Moroccan sovereignty, while respecting UN resolutions. Nations such as the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and Spain itself have backed this initiative as the most serious, credible and realistic way to put an end to the Sahrawi problem, which has lasted for more than four decades since the decolonisation process in the area. In contrast, the Polisario Front, with the invaluable support of Algeria, advocates holding a referendum on the independence of the Saharawi people, which has less international support and is difficult to carry out due to problems in drawing up the census, as various experts have pointed out. 

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