UNSG Personal Envoy for Sahara Optimistic about his Mission of Facilitation

Staffan de Mistura, UNSG Personal Envoy for the Sahara, said that his mission consists of facilitating any avenue to settle the conflict over the Sahara issue.
In a podcast with UN Web TV, the UN official said that his aim is to alleviate the sufferings of people affected by this dispute, giving the example of two old women, held captive in the Tindouf camps, who said that the conflict started when they were teenagers and now they are grandmothers. “We need a solution that would provide us with a future for our own children,” he quoted them as saying.
De Mistura said that the conflict over the Sahara should be settled pursuant to UN resolutions, noting that there are difficulties associated with the dispute that has been running for 47 years.
However, he sounded upbeat saying that there are formulas and ways to solve the issue, and that “never give up” is his mission.
De Mistura has been conducting a series of consultative meetings with direct and indirect parties to the issue.