The United Nations Denies Praising Spain’s Coup Against Western Sahara

The United Nations described Arab reports regarding its special envoy to Western Sahara welcoming Spain’s position on the Saharawi issue as distorting the facts.

This came in a press conference held by the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, at the permanent office of the international organization in New York.

There were frequent Arab reports attributed to government sources in Madrid, regarding Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Evoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, praising Spain’s position on the issue of the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.

“I have a clarification to add again on what is been reported about Mr Staffan de Mistura, and there was an article that alleged that the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, privately “applauded” the recent Spanish announcement as “clearer” than the previous position”, Dujarric said during the press conference.

“Statements about Mr. de Mistura’s positions or his activities that are not released by him or by us here in this office are all too often a distortion of the facts”, he added.

“Concerning the substance of the Spanish announcement last month, as we had noted back then, the Personal Envoy took good note of Spain’s reaffirmed support for an UN‑facilitated process on Western Sahara aimed at a mutually acceptable solution, in line with relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular the most recent one, resolution 2602 (2021)”, he asserted.

In a recent context, the UN Security Council held a session devoted to discussing developments in Western Sahara, in the presence of the UN special envoy to Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura.

During the session, the members of the UN Security Council renewed their support for the efforts of the UN envoy to launch the negotiations process, which has been stalled since 2012.

De Mistura announced after the UN Security Council session that he would soon start a new tour to the region in an attempt to advance the peace process aimed at resolving this conflict.

Asked by AFP whether his visit would take place in weeks or months, de Mistura said: “No, it will happen soon, I hope!”

According to diplomatic sources, the UN envoy did not specify during the Security Council session when he will make his tour or the places he intends to visit.

During the session, the UN envoy welcomed the broad support he received to re-launch the political process.

“Everyone supported my efforts to re-launch negotiations to find a solution to this conflict”, he said.