Sahara: Mike Waltz, UN ambassador, to back autonomy in Morocco
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Yabiladi
The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, will visit Morocco from 15 to 17 November to reaffirm Washington’s support for a solution based on autonomy. The US mission to the UN announced the trip, which follows Russia’s veto of 30 October against a US draft to extend the mandate of the UN mission in the Sahara, MINURSO.
The US representative to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, is to travel to Morocco from 15 to 17 November, the US mission to the UN announced on Sunday. There he will meet senior Moroccan officials.
On the agenda: cooperation under the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Arab countries, including Morocco, as well as efforts to strengthen regional security. He will also remind that Washington is calling for a lasting resolution to the Saharan dispute, based on the autonomy plan championed by Rabat.
The visit comes in the wake of Russia’s veto at the Security Council on 30 October. The US draft, which would have extended the UN mission in the Sahara, MINURSO, by one year, dropped the reference to a referendum and made Moroccan autonomy the sole basis for negotiations. A competing text put forward by Russia, which renewed the mandate for one year, won only three votes, and the United States voted against it. The mission’s mandate had expired on 31 October. After the veto, Mr Waltz deplored the vote.
