In response to a question about reading the Morocco of the statement of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Misturain his last briefing to Security Councilto reassess the role of United Nations on the Sahara issue in the absence of progress in the next six months, Omar Hilale responded, during a press briefing, that “the reassessment of the role ofHIM on the question of Sahara does not concern him and does not fall within his mandate. It falls under the mandate of the Secretary General and the members of the Security Council”.
The ambassador made it clear, during his meeting with the press following the adoption of the new Security Council resolution on the Moroccan Sahara, that “the mandate of the Personal Envoy for the Sahara is the facilitation of the solution between the parties”, insisting 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” .
Mr. Hilale referred to the “UN guide to facilitating negotiations”, which contains “clear information on the role of facilitators, the first principle of which is to strive to implement its mandate and second is to demonstrate authority”.
The Moroccan diplomat 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 said.
“We encourage the Personal Envoy to use his authority effectively, rather than comply with the refusal of theAlgeria”, insisted the Moroccan ambassador, adding that the former personal envoys, Christopher Ross et Horst Köhlernever sought the opinion of Algeria and the other parties, neither on the dates nor on the locations of the negotiations, to convene respectively, the consultations of Manhasset and the Geneva round tables. “We expect Mr. de Mistura to act in the same way, and to show authority,” he said.
Regarding the assessment of the situation, Ambassador Hilale clarified that “Morocco does not seek to assess the role of the UN”, insisting that “the success of progress next April will be measured by the holding or not of round tables at Geneva”.
In this regard, Mr. Hilale referred to the recent declaration of the Suisseexpressing its willingness to host the third roundtable series. “We have the place. What is missing now is the authority of the Personal Envoy and the implementation of his mandate,” he concluded.
