The UN Security Council adopted a resolution April 9 on the Western Sahara peace process between the Polisario Front and Morocco. In essence, it reiterated prior UN resolutions: that a political solution to the ongoing conflict over Western Sahara territories can only be achieved through negotiations between all concerned parties, and in the form of a roundtable process.
Amid the global crisis of the coronavirus, few in the international community paid attention to the resolution, which appears to have not contributed much to the UN-sponsored peace process. Also, the threat that the coronavirus will spread more widely in North Africa did little to bring Morocco and Polisario’s ally Algeria any closer when it comes to the disputed Western Sahara. It could even be said that tensions over Western Sahara didn’t diminish an inch, and that if anything, the coronavirus pandemic only escalated them. As if reflecting international indifference, the UN Security Council website did not even feature the resolution the day after it was adopted.