Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara: Security Council Resolution 2797 sets a framework for negotiation and does not stipulate the outcome

In a press conference at the United Nations headquarters, during which he spoke via video from Brussels, de Mistura said that he had previously mentioned to members of the United Nations that the organization’s General Secretariat is sometimes like “a boat, as it has the experience to reach a safe destination, but doing so requires strong and continuous winds, which means serious engagement from one or more members of the UN Security Council and beyond.”

He added that Security Council Resolution No. 2797 was the result of a very active engagement of the resolution’s drafters through Dr. Massad Boulos (Advisor to the US President), Ambassador Mike Waltz (Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations) and other members of the Security Council, including “perhaps those who abstained or did not vote.”

The Security Council had adopted the resolution After the support of 11 members – out of the fifteen members of the Council – and 3 abstentions from voting (China, Pakistan and the Russian Federation), while Algeria did not participate in the vote.

Stefan de Mistura said the decision “It provides a framework – and I emphasize that word – for negotiations. It does not stipulate an outcome which as usual – in order to be sustainable – will result from negotiations conducted in good faith.”

De Mistura reminded everyone that engaging in negotiations does not automatically mean accepting the result, “but what is important is for them to be part of it.”

The Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara looked forward to seeing “From Morocco, the content of an expanded and updated plan for autonomy, as I requested in my speech to the Security Council on October 16, 2024, and as His Majesty King Mohammed VI announced in his recent speech.”

Given the strong support and mandate granted by Resolution 2797 to the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, de Mistura said: “Our follow-up plan will be, initially, to invite all parties to submit proposals and proposals to allow the United Nations to develop a broad agenda for direct or – even if necessary – indirect talks on the most important issues.”

He added that he would take – in accordance with the Council’s decision – the Moroccan plan for self-rule for 2007 as a basis for these negotiations. And he said: “And then soon – and hopefully soon – we will also take into account Morocco’s enlarged plan as an input, as well as using the Polisario Front paper and other related ideas.”

De Mistura, on behalf of UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, expressed satisfaction regarding the extension of the mandate of the UN mission known as MINURSO until October 2026. He said that this would certainly help provide the climate of stability necessary to accompany future negotiations.

At the end of his speech to reporters, de Mistura said that the real work begins now towards an agreed upon solution to a conflict that has extended for fifty years. He added that he is counting on the parties and members of the Security Council to engage constructively and continuously in order to maintain the positive momentum.