Algeria slams US over UN resolution on Sahara, says its positions were «deliberately ignored»

Following the Security Council's vote on the latest Sahara resolution, Algeria's permanent representative to the UN, Amar Bendjama, delivered a pointed critique of the United States. Algeria argued that «the penholder (the USA) deliberately ignored» its positions.

This dismissal, he claimed, is «in flagrant contradiction with the provisions governing the working methods of this Security Council—provisions requiring the penholder to listen, act fairly, and transparently consider the positions expressed by Council members». The Algerian ambassador added, «Instead, we witnessed broken promises and evasive behavior from the penholder».

The ambassador noted that Algeria had attempted, after the rejection of its amendments, to propose a simple technical update of last year's resolution to the United States, in exchange for canceling a meeting convened by Algeria on Monday, October 28. Algeria sought to remove any reference in the text to the «round tables» held in Geneva in December 2018 and March 2019, attended by Morocco, Polisario, Algeria, and Mauritania.

Amar Bendjama disclosed that the United States had disregarded Algeria's proposal and included the draft resolution as final text on the October 31 session agenda. He argued that the «penholder had not fulfilled its role».

Preempting Algeria's criticism, the U.S. representative had emphasized folloowing the vote that the United States «sought common ground in the spirit of enabling a long overdue political solution. We appreciate the long hours of constructive, good-faith engagement with Council members throughout this process on this important resolution».

«We regret that, despite our sincere efforts, the Council was not able to be unanimous in renewing this mandate today, as unity greatly enhances UN efforts to achieve peace», the U.S. representative added, concluding with the reaffirmation that «the United States continues to view Morocco's Autonomy Proposal as serious, credible, and realistic, and one potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara».