Only the US diplomat Christopher Ross will be pleased with bringing the parties to the Sahara conflict to unofficial talks in Vienna next week. Ross would say: Since when were the talks that help break barriers official ones? What is usually said in the mazes of backstage corridors is more influential and rational that what is repeated before cameras. Since the beginning, the goal of the international envoy to the Sahara was to imply that his method and approach differ from the experience of his predecessor Peter Van Walsum. He wants to maintain the friendship and love of all sides, as he is certain that the consensual solution requires this. However, he allowed other sides of multiple affiliations to be involved, such as France and Spain, so as to underline the European support for his efforts, and avoid saying that the solution is 100% American, as well as the Maghreb Union in order to maintain the regional dimension of the conflict. Most importantly, he cannot put forth a solution that is not based on the principle of consensus, because this conflict is akin to the conflicts that come within the framework of the political solutions that are not imposed by external sides. What goes beyond raising the idea of mini-unofficial talks is his intentions to benefit from regional and international developments that might help in achieving a breakthrough. Certainly, his predecessor Van Walsum did not provoke a wave of criticism against the conclusions he reached because he admitted that the independence of the Sahara district is unrealistic, but because the final rounds of the Manhattan negotiations convened under unfavorable circumstances. On the one hand, the former US Administration was in its last days, even if Secretary Condoleezza Rice visited North Africa during the final part of her tenure. On the other hand, Algeria was in the process of preparing the agenda of the third mandate of President Abed Al-Aziz Bouteflika, while the Polisario Front was under the influence of strict calls to hold arms and escalate the military situation. In fact, an indirect side was facing a domestic crisis manifested by the repercussions of the coup of the Mauritanian summer. Moreover, the new European agenda drafted by the Union for the Mediterranean was in the process of becoming clearer, which means that the future of the Mediterranean system is contingent upon achieving a major breakthrough in the countries of the southern bank of the Mediterranean. This could not take place without a regional consensus over a solution to the Sahara conflict. The Vienna negotiations will not be a substitute for the conclusions reached by the negotiations in Manhattan. It is difficult to say that the sides failed to achieve anything over four rounds of talks, but the give and take methodology requires ensuring a way back. The difference lies in the extent of the parties' commitment to what has been achieved, whether at the level of starting substantive discussions or the continued growing gap between the conflicting proposals. Envoy Ross understood that unofficial negotiations save the parties from any embarrassment. Meanwhile, he maintains the point of view of Rabbat, which does not want the fifth round of unofficial negotiations to start from scratch. His efforts to open up to the Maghreb Union can include the other part of the Security Council resolutions, which prepare the parties of the dialogue to encourage negotiations. This is in itself is an accomplishment for Ross who is always optimistic about making progress, especially that if the feuding parties go to Vienna, it means there is no room for the choice of escalation that dominated the region after the suspension of the negotiations. The distinctive characteristic of Ross is that he does not claim to possess the keys of solutions alone. He deals with the Sahara dossier from a different perspective. For instance, he pushed the Madrid government to test its luck in a mediation to resume the normalization of ties between Morocco and Algeria, just as he pushed the Paris government to give precedence for the stake of the Union for the Mediterranean, while the administration of US President Barack Obama started to pursue a new way to encourage the countries of the Maghreb region to play a bigger role in addressing the Middle East crisis. These stakes and the negotiations cannot succeed without ensuring the stability of North Africa and consolidating the pillars of its security and safety. As such, the region is ahead of a significant date, which many hope it will not miss this time.
