Washington – Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, pointed to the “lack of progress” in the United Nations negotiations over the Sahara, and expressed “concern” over this stalemate.
Protracted United Nations negotiations over the Sahara have failed to produce substantive progress, while the Tindouf camps have persisted for decades, Ros-Lehtinen said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, warning that “reports also indicate that some activities in the camps may be contributing to regional instability.”
Ros-Lehtinen called for the U.S. to encourage the UN to take “new actions” to end the impasse, mitigate the camp crisis and reduce costs of UN activities related to the Sahara issue.
The goal, she said, is “to seek a fair, just and enduring solution” to the conflict, “which is the objective of the proposal for autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty -in order to promote regional integration and protect U.S. security interests in the region.”
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