The AU should “prioritize” the UN-led peace negotiations, said Moussa Faki Mahamat

PERSISMA – Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the  African Union (AU) Commission, has unveiled the pan-African organization’s latest report on Sahara, saying that the AU should “prioritize” the UN-led peace negotiations.
The report defined the role of the AU in the conflict, emphasizing that the African organization is to “support and to accompany the UN efforts,” and the UN Security Council is the only body that has the legitimate power to monitor the region and commit the parties of the conflict to negotiation terms.

“AU’s role will be that of supporting and accompanying UN efforts,” the much-awaited report said, adding that the UN Security Council is the only body with the legitimate mandate to oversee the region and commit involved parties to negotiation terms.

Morocco’s traditional position has been that any AU-led actions that do not support UN efforts would be counterproductive as they “would not lead to a mutually acceptable political solution.”

Most importantly, perhaps, Mahamat’s report exhorted Algeria and Mauritania to be an integral part of the UN peace process in the Sahara dossier, dubbing the two nations as “important stakeholders” in the decades-long stalemate.

Algeria, a known supporter of the Polisario Front, the insurgent group claiming independence for Western Sahara, has traditionally declined responsibility in the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front, preferring to refer to itself as an “observer state.”

Mahamat’s report, however, declares that “[any] efforts towards peace and stability in the Sahara question are likely to fail without an “effective Algerian implication [in the negotiations].”