With just two weeks to go before the vote on extending MINURSO’s mandate, tensions are rising over Western Sahara.
On Tuesday, October 13, the Polisario Front issued a statement following closed-door talks at the UN Security Council, challenging the neutrality of UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.
The movement accuses him of leaning toward Morocco’s autonomy plan, warning that a mediator cannot decide a people’s future in advance.
But the Polisario Front insists it is not walking away from negotiations, which resumed earlier this year. Instead, it is demanding a change in approach, with self-determination at the center of any political solution.
Meanwhile, the movement says MINURSO remains indispensable, but its mission must not lose its purpose.