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, affirmed in New York the Ambassador Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Omar Hilale.
In response to a question on Morocco’s reading of the declaration 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 issue of Sahara in the absence of progress in the next six months, Mr. Hilale responded, during a press briefing, that “the reassessment of the role of the UN on the question of the Sahara does not concern him and does not concern of his mandate. It falls within 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”, believing 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 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 the Manhasset consultations and the Geneva round tables respectively. “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”, emphasizing 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 place. What is missing now is the authority of the Personal Envoy and the implementation of his mandate,” he concluded.
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