THE UNITED NATIONS LEADERSHIP ROLE IN SOLVING THE WESTERN SAHARA CONFLICT: PROGRESS OR DELAYS FOR PEACE?

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Yasmine Hasnaoui

Abstract

This paper evaluates the United Nations’ (UN) involvement and efforts in Western Sahara and assesses its perceived effectiveness in settling this conflict in the post-Cold War international order. The dispute in Western Sahara is the most protracted conflict in the history of the UN. Its settlement would provide a crucial platform for the progress of other unresolved conflicts under UN auspices. As a mediator and an intervening party, the UN has played a major role in the dispute, especially since the establishment of the UN Mission for Western Sahara, MINURSO. After outlining the history of the Western Sahara conflict, this paper elucidates the stages the UN has managed therein and clarifies the reasons and motives behind the deadlock in the Sahara. The UN’s efforts are evaluated, and the negotiating perspectives of the concerned parties in the conflict and role of Algeria, which considers itself not formally part of the conflict despite its role in preserving the current impasse, analyzed.

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How to Cite
Hasnaoui, Yasmine. 2020. “THE UNITED NATIONS LEADERSHIP ROLE IN SOLVING THE WESTERN SAHARA CONFLICT: PROGRESS OR DELAYS FOR PEACE?”. Journal of Liberty and International Affairs 4 (3):106-21. https://e-jlia.com/index.php/jlia/article/view/136.
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Author Biography

Yasmine Hasnaoui, Center for Doctoral Studies, University of Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco

Yasmine Hasnaoui is a Communication, International Relations & Conflict Resolution specialist. She has worked in various policy institutions on the national and international levels. Ms. Hasnaoui led communication efforts at many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and projects such as Amnesty International's Regional Section, People to People International, and SANAD USAID, a Morocco civil society development project in Rabat, Morocco. In all these capacities, she created communications strategies and work plans and coordinated major events. Previously, Ms. Hasnaoui held positions of as specialist in International Cooperation at the Agency for Economic and Social Development in the Southern Provinces of Morocco and was assistant professor of Foreign Languages and North African Culture at the Osgood Center for International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Amherst and Austin Colleges, Massachusetts. Ms. Hasnaoui has participated in several working sessions with the United Nations in Geneva and New York on the issue of human rights in conflict areas and is regularly invited by the Council of Europe and IFLRY to offer workshops on Conflict Management & Conflict Transformation for the benefit of youth coming from worldwide conflict zones. Ms. Hasnaoui is a recipient of the Fulbright Language Teaching Assistantship scholarship. She holds an M.A. in Communication Studies and Media from the Faculty Caddi Ayyad in Marrakech, Morocco, and is currently finalizing a Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Rabat, Morocco. She is the former chair of the Council of International Members at Global Ties US, Washington DC.