Algeria withdraws Sahara Security Council meeting request

On Monday, October 28, the UN Security Council did not hold the meeting scheduled at Algeria's request to continue its closed-door review of the U.S. draft resolution on the Western Sahara issue. «Algeria withdrew its request to organize a new round of consultations, submitted the day before by its permanent representative to the United Nations», a source close to the matter told Yabiladi.

The withdrawal came after the United States and France rejected amendments proposed by Algeria to the draft prepared by the Biden administration.

Algeria had suggested extending MINURSO's mandate to include monitoring human rights in the Sahara and removing from the resolution the call for the continuation of round-table discussions—a negotiation format that brought together representatives of Morocco, Polisario, Algeria, and Mauritania under UN auspices in December 2018 and March 2019 in Geneva.

The Council will hold a meeting tomorrow to adopt a new resolution extending MINURSO's mandate for another year.