Algeria says the Sahara will be one of its priorities during its UN Security council mandate

On January 1, five new non-permanent members joined the Security Council for the period 2024-2025. Algeria is one of them. Its president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said during an address to the Parliament that the two priority issues for his country during this UN mandate will be Western Sahara and Palestine.

Just like South Africa or Uruguay, Algeria will spare no effort to include the Sahara on almost all the monthly activities of the UN executive body, by requesting extraordinary meetings for the examination of that question.

Well before the start of its mandate, Algeria has brought together the new members of the Security Council. On the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held in September in New York, the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, met with his counterparts from South Korea, Slovenia, Sierra Leone and Guyana to «coordinate» the positions of these States in the Security Council and not fall under the influence of the «logic of polarization» on certain issues.

Mozambique, whose mandate will end on December 31, 2024, also recognizes the so-called «SADR», and will support Algeria’s demands. For its first year in the SC, Maputo opted for abstention, alongside Moscow, during the vote on resolution 2703, on October 30, 2023.

The capacity for nuisance of Algeria and Mozambique remains limited. Indeed, the United States writes the draft resolutions and leaves very little room for other members of the SC to bring changes to their texts.

For the record, 2023 saw direct involvement from Washington on the Sahara issue. This is evidenced by the two tours in the region, carried out in September and December, by the US Deputy Secretary of State for North Africa, Joshua Harris.

Guyana, South Korea and Slovenia, rather defend a mutually acceptable political solution to the Sahara question. On the other hand, Sierra Leone recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara and even opened a consulate general in Dakhla, in August 2021. Its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Timothy Musa Kabba, also reiterated, on September 6 in Rabat, “his country's 'relentless support' for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom.

In January 2024, France will assume the rotating presidency of the Security Council.