New york (UN) – UNSG Ban Ki-moon held, on Wednesday in the UN’s headquarters in New York, talks with Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Dine El Otmani on many issues notably the national cause and the latest developments on the regional and international scenes.
The minister described the meeting as “important” as it allowed to conduct a general survey of matters of shared interest, including the Sahara issue.
During the meeting, attended by UNSG’s personal envoy for the Sahara Christopher Ross, the two parties underlined the progress achieved through the informal talks mainly in relation with trust-building measures, mine-clearance, and the organization of seminars. However, El Otmani regretted that much remains to be done politically.
The meeting takes place a day after the 9th set of informal talks (March 11-13) in Manhasset, outskirts of New York.
The minister insisted on the need “to conduct a headcount of the populations in the camps of Tindouf” and the necessity to include this matter, again, in the upcoming report by the UNSG on the Sahara.
El Otmani seized this opportunity to emphasize Morocco’s will to reach a final settlement for this artificial conflict on the basis of the autonomy initiative which enjoys a growing support by the international community, which describes it as serious and credible.
Referring to regional security, El Otmani said that regional peace and security are the responsibility of everyone, noting that the region is facing threats due to the Libyan arms proliferation in the Sahel-Saharan region.
The meeting was attended by Morocco’s Ambassador to the UN Mohamed Loulichki.
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