The United States started unusual movements in the Western Sahara and sent Joshua Harris, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, to North Africa to address the Sahara issue in conjunction with the existing tension in the Sahel region due to terrorism and coups.
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The US official began his visit from the Tindouf camps on September 1st, according to a US State Department statement, and discussed with the leadership of the Polisario Front political developments and prospects for peace.
According to the statement, the visit “will serve as an opportunity for Harris to consult on regional security and reaffirm full U.S. support for the UN political process for Western Sahara”.
Harris’ visit comes just a few months before the UN Security Council votes on a new resolution on Western Sahara.
�� #هام : وفد امريكي هام في زيارة الى الجمهورية الصحراوية يقوده جوشوا هاريس، نائب مساعد وزير الخارجية والمكلف بشمال أفريقيا بمكتب الشرق الأدنى بوزارة الخارجية الأمريكيةhttps://t.co/YlnGcYitxd pic.twitter.com/2QjEzh2d8D
— وكالة الأنباء المستقلة NEWS (@hama_lmehdi)
September 1, 2023
The tweet reads: An important American delegation is on a visit to the Sahrawi Republic, led by Joshua Harris, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in charge of North Africa in the Near East Bureau of the US State Department
The American delegation moved to the Algerian capital and discussed with the Secretary-General of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lunas Makramane, the file of the Sahara and the Sahel. The statement added that “during the talks, the two sides reviewed ways and prospects for supporting the efforts led by the United Nations to achieve a political solution to the issue of Western Sahara in a way that guarantees the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, in addition to developments in the situation in the Sahel region,” the Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The visit of the American delegation to the camps of Tindouf and Algeria came after the US-Algerian strategic summit in the middle of last month in Washington. Washington has never sent a high-level delegation to the Tindouf camps.
Morocco, on the other hand, did not announce its protest against the visit.
Washington announced its support for the Moroccan Sahara during the era of Republican President Donald Trump. The Joe Biden administration did not announce its retraction from the announcement.
The US administration is concerned about the situation in the Sahara and the Sahel region. War confrontations have returned between the Polisario Front and the Royal Moroccan Army, and there is fear of a return to terrorist activity in northern Mali and Niger in light of the unstable conditions after the military coups in the two countries.
The Western Sahara dispute began in 1975 when Spain, which had been a colonial power, withdrew from the territories and left their future uncertain. In the aftermath of Spain’s departure, Morocco organized the “Green March,” where thousands of Moroccan civilians entered Western Sahara and asserted Moroccan sovereignty. The move faced resistance from the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and its military wing, the Polisario Front, which claimed they were the representatives of the indigenous Sahrawi people and sought full independence.
Armed conflict broke out between Morocco and the Polisario Front the same year, which continued until the United Nations brokered a fragile ceasefire.
The UN has supported a referendum on self-determination, which has yet to take place due to disputes over issues such as who would be eligible to vote in such a referendum.
