The month of April each year is the one chosen by the UN Security Council to adopt its resolutions on the Moroccan Sahara dossier. In anticipation of this deadline and in parallel with Christopher Ross's new tour of the region, the United States has dispatched two diplomats to Laâyoune, it is believed here, to gather information on the human rights situation in the region. The two American diplomats who arrived in Laâyoune sometime last week are said, according to some observers, to belong to the State Department, while others have indicated that they are members of the staff of the American Embassy in Rabat. Be that as it may, upon their arrival at Laâyoune airport, the two American officials were met by a Moroccan official who took them to a hotel in the city, leaving them full freedom to move about as they pleased. This trip by the American diplomats, which comes a few weeks before the Security Council examines a new report from the UN Secretary-General on the Sahara, went almost unnoticed, as it did not spark the demonstrations that have become habitual every time any foreign visitor sets foot in Laâyoune. A similar visit was at the origin, in 2013, of the American resolution which aimed at expanding the prerogatives of MINURSO and which had strained Moroccan-American relations, had it not been for the Royal intervention which convinced the Obama administration to postpone its draft resolution. The American emissaries are therefore tasked with gathering information on the ground, particularly on the human rights situation, which will undoubtedly serve as a reference for Secretary of State John Kerry's services to determine a position on the conflict, some observers believe, hoping that the American officials' report will be favourable to Morocco and convincing for the 15 members of the Security Council so that a resolution extending the mandate of MINURSO is adopted.