Guerguerate : Mike Pompeo says the conflict has to be resolved through a set of conversations

The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reacted, Friday, to the military intervention in Guerguerate.

Answering a question by Moroccan foreign and public policy analyst Imru AL Qays Talha Jebril on the situation in the Sahara during his opening statement for the start of the IISS Manama Dialogue, Pompeo said that the US’ policy regarding the territorial conflict «hasn’t frankly changed very much from where we were six months or even 24 months ago».

«We hope that the Moroccans can find a way through this», Pompeo said. «We, just like in most conflicts in the world – our view is that it ought not be resolved through military means but through a set of conversations that can deliver good outcomes», he stressed.

After the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution in October, extending the mandate of MINURSO to one year, the United States recalled that Morocco’s autonomy plan is «serious, credible, and realistic, and it represents one potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people in Western Sahara to run their own affairs with peace and dignity».

It also called «on the parties to demonstrate their commitment to a realistic, practicable, and enduring political solution, based on compromise, by resuming negotiations without preconditions and in good faith. Entrenched positions must not stand in the way of progress».