The US Assistant Secretary of State for North Africa, Joshua Harris, arrived in Morocco on Wednesday evening for meetings with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and other Moroccan government officials to discuss advancing regional peace, prosperity, and security, the US State Department Office for Near East Affairs announced on social media.
Harris is on a regional mission to confer on security matters and reiterate the United States’ commitment to the UN political process concerning the Sahara. He has already stopped in Algeria and met with the leader of the Polisario separatists in the Tindouf camps.
The talks have focused on how to support the efforts of Staffan de Mistura, the Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Sahara, to revive the peace process. He has also had talks with Algeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Attaf. De Mistura arrived in Morocco on Monday.
Only a week ago, Barbara Leaf, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, had talks with Nasser Bourita in Rabat, focusing on issues of common concern, including stability, security, development, and the Sahara dispute.
This series of American moves comes just weeks before the start of the UN Security Council sessions scheduled next month in New York. They are expected to address developments with respect to the Sahara issue, as well as whether the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Sahara (MINURSO), which ends on October 31, 2023, will be renewed.