New York (United Nations), 24 October 2025 (SPS) – On the eve of today’s closed expert- consultations of the Security Council on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Member of the National Secretariat, Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, sent yesterday a letter to Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations and current President of the UN Security Council, in which he stressed the position of the Frente POLISARIO on the US draft resolution submitted recently to the Security Council.
The following is the full text of the letter received by SPS:
Letter from the Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSOaddressed to the President of the Security Council
New York, 23 October 2025
H.E. Mr Vassily Nebenzia
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
President of the Security Council
Your Excellency,
Upon instructions from my Authorities, I am writing to you with a sense of urgency to inform that the Frente POLISARIO has taken note of the draft resolution circulated, on 22October 2025, to the Members of the Security Council by the United States of America as the penholder on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
The Frente POLISARIO underscores that the draft resolution, which reflects the national position of the penholder, is a very dangerous, unprecedented departure not only from the principles of international law underpinning Western Sahara as a question of decolonization, but also from the basis upon which the Security Council has addressed Western Sahara. It also contains elements that strike at the heart of the foundations of the UN peace process in Western Sahara and constitute a grave violation of the international status of the Territory.
Acting under the relevant Chapters of the UN Charter, the Security Council has firmly and consensually established the basis of the solution and the process leading to it, namely negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General without preconditions and in good faith with a view to achieving a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in the context of arrangements consistent with the principles and purposes of the UN Charter.
As confirmed by the International Court of Justice, sovereignty over Western Sahara belongs exclusively to the Sahrawi people who have an inalienable, non-negotiable, and imprescriptible right to self-determination to be exercised freely and democratically under the UN auspices. Therefore, any approach that sets a prefixed framework for the negotiations or predetermines their outcome, circumscribes the free exercise by the Sahrawi people of their right to self-determination, or imposes a solution against their will is utterly unacceptable to the Frente POLISARIO.
The Frente POLISARIO remains committed to achieving just and lasting peace for which it has made tremendous concessions and sacrifices since the inception of the UN-led peace process in Western Sahara. In this context, as a goodwill gesture and in response to Security Council resolutions, the Frente POLISARIO submitted an expanded Proposal to the UN Secretary-General on 20 October 2025, and it remains ready to engage positively in the peace process based on the spirit and content of its expanded Proposal.
The Frente POLISARIO however stresses that, if the draft resolution were to pass without taking into account and effectively addressing the foregoing elements, it will not engage in any political process or negotiations based on the content of the draft resolution.
The Frente POLISARIO trusts that members of the Security Council will always be bound and guided by the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and the relevant principles of international law applicable to Western Sahara.
It urges all stakeholders to use their leverage constructively to create the necessary conditions for the two parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, to engage in serious, credible, and time-bound negotiations, without preconditions and in good faith, under the UN auspices, with a view to achieving a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. This is the only viable path that would lead to achieving just and enduring peace in our region.
I would be most grateful if you would bring this letter to the attention of the Members of the Security Council.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Dr Sidi M. Omar
Ambassador
Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO
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