Algeria conveyed to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that they refused to participate in the “round table meetings” held in Geneva, to discuss the Western Sahara problem.
Amar Belani, Algeria’s Special Representative for Western Sahara and Maghreb Countries announced the decision in a statement in the Algerian media.
“Authorities asked the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the UN to convey to the UNSC chief and members that Algeria will not participate in the roundtables on Western Sahara,” Belani said.
Belani stated: “The decision was taken because the round table meetings are no longer an efficient method of solving the problem, as Morocco has bad intentions to portray Algeria as a party to the conflict.”
Roundtable meetings were held between Morocco and the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara region, with the participation of neighboring countries, Algeria and Mauritania, to discuss the Western Sahara problem.
The first meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2018, the second in March 2019, and the third meeting was scheduled to be held in May 2019. However, the third meeting has not been realized yet due to the resignation of the then-UN Western Sahara Representative Horst Köhler due to health problems.
On October 6, two years after Köhler’s resignation, Steffan de Mistura became the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Western Sahara.
The Western Sahara problem has been one of the primary sources of tension in relations between Morocco and Algeria.
Morocco accuses Algeria of supporting the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara region. Meanwhile, Algeria does not support Morocco’s steps in Western Sahara.
As a result of the escalating tension between the two countries, Algeria announced in August 2021 that it had cut its diplomatic relations with Morocco.
