UN envoy starts new effort to broker deal on Western Sahara

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A United Nations diplomat newly tasked with reviving stalled negotiations for a settlement to the decades-old Western Sahara conflict has met with Moroccan officials during his first visit to the region. U.N. envoy to Western Sahara Staffan De Mistura held talks in the capital Rabat Thursday with Morocco’s foreign minister and U.N. ambassador. Morocco’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Moroccan officials reiterated the country’s “commitment to the resumption of the political process conducted under the exclusive auspices of the U.N.” The Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony, annexed by Morocco in 1975 and claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front.