By choosing Morocco as the final stop on his tour of the region, United Nations envoy Christopher Ross has hinted at part of the problems of the Sahara conflict. On the previous occasion, he began his trip in Morocco and ended it in Algeria. This time, the Algerians were waiting for him first; then, he went to the Tindof camps and Mauritania, ending up in Rabat. Perhaps this selection lacks political implications. However, the symbolic aspect cannot be denied, just as it cannot be imposed in any manner other than the one desired by Ross, namely a normalization of the climate in order to resume negotiations on bases different from previous experiences. It was sufficient for him, as he gained the approval of various sides of heading for new talks at the beginning of next month, to wait for the delegations. However, he purposely moved preemptively, with a very important and decisive tour. For the UN envoy, it is no longer possible for the coming round of negotiations to be a clone of previous ones. The concerned parties have confronted each other, to the point of clashing with each other, and it is no longer on the table for each to defend its convictions and position. Instead, it has become necessary to see an agreement about the basis of negotiations, so that such talks do not represent a mere exercise in public relations. Ross says that the situation in the region is intolerable, and that the responsibility is on all parties, while a belief prevails that the UN's patience has worn out vis-à-vis this long-standing conflict. The UN is unable to impose - nor is it tasked with imposing – specific scenarios, since the conflict requires resorting to the principle of accord in order to take any step forward. The previous UN envoy, James Baker, was aware of these problems. He put forward solutions, one of which was the UN's withdrawal from any dealings with this thorny issue. At the time, Baker presented various solutions, such as autonomy, partitioning the region, or returning to the referendum option, or seeing the UN wash its hands of the conflict. However, another American diplomat, Christopher Ross, does not want to give in to failure while in the middle of the path, between moving toward negotiations and agreeing on the final basis of these talks. Ross wants to achieve encouraging developments that have eluded his predecessors, who walked along the desert before encountering a mirage. The road ahead is barely visible to Ross, who knows the region well, ever since he worked in Morocco and Algeria, before being given this difficult responsibility. During his current trip, he insists that other parties join in his belief that the situation is intolerable, whether in terms of the tension in relations between Algeria and Morocco, or the drop in aspirations to build a Maghreb Union, or confronting security challenges in the south-Saharan Sahel region. In addition to this political predicament, the humanitarian conditions in the Tindof camps are no longer able to see a continued “no solution.” It is no longer acceptable to deal with them as a temporary solution, since they represent a strange phenomenon in the conditions of the refugees, which must end through the exercise of the voluntary right of return. If these refugees exercise their natural rights to a free and dignified life, without political pressure or exploitation of their humanitarian conditions, this will not be a defeat for any side. Instead, it will be a true victory, which can be achieved by all sides, to prevent the suffering of thousands of people, who have no crime other than being born in the Saharan refugee camps. Absent in the formula of negotiations is not the question of desire and ability to end the suffering of the refugees, but also the regional situation, which is pushing in a different direction. Certainly, without an Algerian-Moroccan agreement, making any progress on settling the Sahara conflict becomes more difficult. This is because what the two neighbors can achieve in a period of openness and accord, which paved the way for building the Maghreb Union, cannot be achieved under the current conditions of frozen relations. Ross insists on asking the neighboring countries to help encourage negotiations; thus, he is laying a great responsibility upon them. Although his competence does not lie in urging Rabat and Algiers to begin normalizing their ties, without this accord, the impending negotiations can only clone earlier rounds of failure.
