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As expected, the United Nations Security Council launched Tuesday evening primary consultations on the new Western Sahara resolution. «Overall, the first draft handed over to the Security Council’s members confirms the Moroccan position, calling to maintain commercial activities in the Guerguerate border crossing», a source told Yabiladi on Wednesday.
In his report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote that «on 6 January, I expressed deep concern about recent increased tensions in Guerguerate, calling on the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid escalating tensions».
He called «civilian and commercial traffic not to be obstructed and for no action to be taken that might constitute a change to the status quo of the buffer strip».
Finding a definitive solution for the buffer zone crisis
The draft resolution written by the United States and handed over to members of the Security Council, did not call for the sending of a «technical committee» to Guerguerate as it was the case in 2017, sources told Yabiladi.
On the other hand, the document completely overlooked the Polisario’s recent military incursions into the buffer zones. Consequently, Morocco still has the time to make the Council modify certain clauses in the resolution to be voted on April the 29th instead of the 25th of the same month.
«Once again, the Kingdom can count on the support of Paris. Moreover, last night during negotiations, the French representatives urged the council to baldly respond to the Front’s incursions in the buffer zones», reported the same source.
«This question will be at the heart of the 'Friends of Western Sahara'’s next meeting on Wednesday in New York, intended to discuss the draft resolution,» sources told Yabiladi.
Despite the changes, the draft resolution presented yesterday failed to mention the census of the Tindouf camps’ population.
