The impossible sharing of the Sahara

The UN special envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, raised this week the possibility of sharing the Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front to end the conflict. A solution rejected by both parties.

Faced with the status quo observed for three years in the process of settling this conflict, Staffan de Mistura expressed his disappointment before the Security Council. In an exercise of “frank assessment” of the situation, the UN special envoy expressed the “level of frustration and despair” of the Sahrawis, which he noted during his visit in early October to the Tindouf camps in Algeria), the warlike intentions of the Polisario since its announcement of the breakdown of the ceasefire in November 2020, and the persistent “hostility” between Rabat and Algiers.