The UN special envoy travels to Tindouf and the Polisario accuses Spain of "creating more problems"

• Speech Mohamed VI salutes the "clear and responsible position" of Spain towards Western Sahara

The

, Staffan de Mistura, undertook this Saturday a visit to the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria), in which he met with the leaders of the Polisario Front.

The veteran diplomat addressed the stalled process to resolve the dispute with the chief negotiator of the Saharawi independence movement,

, with his representative to the UN,

and with the Minister of Cooperation,

.

This Sunday he is scheduled to hold a meeting with the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.

As a symbolic note of the delicate moment that the region is experiencing,

, provided by the Government for the trips of the special envoy, but an Air Algerie commercial plane.

The reason must be found in the mistrust that has been installed in the ranks of the Polisario in the face of the change in position announced by the Government of Pedro Sánchez last March, by supporting the autonomy plan for Western Sahara proposed by Morocco.

The initiative of the Alaouite kingdom ignores the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people recognized by the UN, while considering the former Spanish colony as a "non-autonomous territory".

Sánchez's turn provoked a diplomatic crisis with Algeria and the suspension of contacts with Spain by the Polisario Front.

This is how Sidi Omar expressed this Saturday in declarations to Efe, as soon as he concluded his meeting with De Mistura, the

: "Due to its positions such as the one recently taken by the current Government of Spain, it has gone from being an actor that can contribute in a positive way to an actor that has created more problems for the process of decolonization of Western Sahara".

With the bridges broken between the parties involved in the conflict - diplomatic relations between Morocco and Algeria were broken a year ago - De Mistura goes into this trip to try to deepen his "consultations with all the parties involved on the prospect of move the political process forward constructively" with a view to presenting a

.

Its main objective is to study how to revive the negotiations between the sides, in a context of reactivation of the armed conflict after the collapse, in November 2020, of the ceasefire agreed in 1991.

"We only ask the UN to organize a day of democracy and allow us to express ourselves through a referendum,"

, secretary general of the National Union of Saharan Women, told Efe, with whom De Mistura met this Saturday. before holding a meeting with youth associations.

It is the second time that De Mistura has traveled to this enclave since he was appointed to the position, at the end of 2021. His

took place last January through Rabat, Nouakchott, Algiers and Tindouf.

In July he undertook a trip to the Moroccan capital, from where he planned to make the leap to the territories of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco.

However, at the last minute he gave up going due to pressure -unconfessed- from the Alaouite kingdom.

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