JavaScript is disabled! Why you want to do so? Please enable JavaScript in your web browser!
During his meeting with the press following the adoption of the new Security Council resolution on the Moroccan Sahara, Omar Hilale stressed 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 carry out his mandate and act with authority. Has he done it? We don’t think so,” he said.
“We encourage the Personal Envoy to use his authority effectively, rather than complying with Algeria’s refusal,” insisted the Moroccan ambassador, adding 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 said.
In response 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 latest briefing to the Security Council, to reassess the role of the United Nations on the issue of Sahara in the absence of progress in the next six months, Mr. Hilale responded that “the reassessment of the role of the UN on the Sahara issue does not concern him and does not fall within its mandate. It falls within the mandate of the Secretary-General and members of the Security Council.
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 in Geneva”.
In this regard, Mr. Hilale referred to Switzerland’s recent declaration, expressing its willingness to host the third series of round tables. “We have the venue. What is missing now is the authority of the Personal Envoy and the implementation of his mandate,” he concluded.
(With MAP)
Do you have a real estate project in mind? Yakeey & Médias24 help you make it happen!
© Media24. Any reproduction prohibited, in any form whatsoever, without written authorization from the Société des Nouveaux Médias. This content is protected by law and in particular law 88-13 relating to the press and publishing as well as laws 66.19 and 2-00 relating to copyright and related rights.
November 4, 2024 at 4:04 p.m.
Modified November 4, 2024 at 5:11 p.m.
