The Ambassador Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Omar Hilale, affirmed on Monday that the evaluation of the role of the UN on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara falls solely within the mandate of the Secretary-General and the Security Council.
In response, during a press briefing, to a question on Morocco’s reading of the statement of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, in his last briefing to the Security Council, to reassess the role of the United Nations on the Sahara issue in the absence of progress in the next six months, Hilale argued that “the reassessment of the role of the UN on the Sahara question does not concern it and does not fall within its mandate. It falls within the mandate of the Secretary-General and the members of the Security Council.”
“The mandate of the Personal Envoy for the Sahara is the facilitation of the solution between the parties”, the diplomat clarified, noting that to achieve significant progress, the Personal Envoy must implement his facilitation mandate “in accordance with his letter of appointment by the Secretary-General as well as Security Council resolutions.”
Hilale in this sense referred to the “UN guide to facilitating negotiations”, which includes “clear information on the role of facilitators, the first principle of which is to strive to implement its mandate and the second principle is to demonstrate authority “.
In this regard, the ambassador called on the Personal Envoy to demonstrate the necessary authority in order to relaunch the round table process. “We ask him to implement his mandate and act with authority. Did he do it? We don’t think so,” he declared.
“We encourage the Personal Envoy to use his authority effectively, rather than complying with Algeria’s refusal,” said Hilale, recalling that the former personal envoys, Christopher Ross and Horst Köhler, never sought the opinion of Algeria and the other parties, neither on the dates nor on the locations of the negotiations, to convene respectively, the Manhasset consultations and the Geneva round tables. “We expect Mr. de Mistura to act in the same way, and to show authority,” he insisted.
Regarding the assessment of the situation, the diplomat clarified that “Morocco does not seek to evaluate the role of the UN”noting that “the success of progress next April will be measured by whether or not round tables are held in Geneva.”
In this regard, Hilale referred to Switzerland’s recent declaration, expressing its willingness to host the third series of round tables. “We have the place. What is missing now is the authority of the Personal Envoy and the implementation of his mandate,” he concluded.
