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The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (UN) published, Thursday, a press release on the 984th meeting held on 9 March 2021, on the follow up on the implementation of paragraph 15 of the decision on Silencing the Guns of the 14th Extraordinary Summit. The communiqué, did not address the issue of climate change, but rather focused solely on the Western Sahara issue.
The press release is a summary of everything Morocco has always rejected. The council «notes with deep concern the resumption of military confrontation between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Republic, in violation of the ceasefire agreements».
Yet the United Nations has repeatedly denied the outbreak of a war between the militias of the Brahim Ghali movement and the Royal Armed Forces. Moreover, with the exception of the Front and Algerian press, no credible international media has reported battles between the Polisario and Morocco or sent its correspondents to cover them.
Requesting a UN legal opinion
The Council also recommends «that the AU Troika should urgently revitalize its engagement with Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic with a view to peacefully finding a permanent resolution to the crisis».
Two decisions that the kingdom has always rejected. Indeed, the creation of the troika mechanism, at the Nouakchott summit in July 2018, prevents the Peace and Security Council from addressing the file.
The same document also urges «the AU Commission to urgently take necessary steps for the re-opening of the AU Office in Laayoune, Western Sahara, in order to enable the AU to reactivate its role in the search for a political solution to this longstanding conflict».
Worse, the PSC under the influence of Algeria went so far as to «call on the UN Secretary General to request the United Nations Legal Counsel to provide a legal opinion on the opening of consulates in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara».
The Polisario has already made the same request. For its part, Algiers had initially condemned the inaugurations of diplomatic representations in Laayoune and Dakhla.
The press release of the CPS could be seen as a departure gift for Algerian Smail Chergui. It remains to be seen whether his successor, Nigerian Bankol Adeoye, who took office on March 15, will follow suit and be hostile against Morocco.
Although Abuja still recognizes the «Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic», it wishes to strengthen its economic, security and religious relations with Morocco.
The first news from Addis Ababa indicates that the new commissioner for peace and security is not enthusiastic about the deployment in the Sahel of an AU force of 3,000 soldiers. A project led by the Algerian Chergui. Moreover, he had made the announcement himself on February 27, 2021.
