BLOG: Another Year for MINURSO Doing Nothing In Western Sahara

The Saharawi Women would like to express their disagreement and their concern on the recent UN Security Council´s resolution on Western Sahara aproved late this friday, April 30th 2010.

We express our concern and disaproval to this resolution because they have not included the need of protecting the human rights in Western Sahara due to the dangerous situation are facing our citizens in the occupied cities of what is known as the Africa´s last colony. As usually, for almost nineteen years the United Nations has extented the mandate of the peacekeeping force in Western Sahara, illegally occupied by kingdom of Morroco. The Women from this country and the entire saharawi people are deeply concerded on the issue of the great violation of human rights.

Mandate of UN peacekeeping force in Western Sahara extended for another year without approving any mandate of promoting human rights in the occupied cities of Western sahara, where the moroccan occupied authorities are violating daily the human rights like unjust prisons, detentions, turtures, etc..

We want to launch an urgent appeal to the international community to put pressure on the moroccan government to respect the international resolutions and to respect the human rights on Western Sahara. UN Press release informed: "In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-member Council called on Morocco and Frente Polisario – the parties to the conflict in Western Sahara – to “continue to show political will and work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to enter into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations.”

The resolution was adopted after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his latest report on the peacekeeping mission (known as MINURSO), recently welcomed both parties' commitment to the process of negotiations and their willingness to engage in the preparatory informal format. But he noted that two informal meetings under the auspices of his personal envoy Christopher Ross held in August 2009 and February this year produced no movement on the core substantive issues, and more work is needed before a fifth round can be held.

Mr. Ross' efforts to promote a settlement have been “laborious,” the Secretary-General said. “Their pace and substance have been heavily affected by the parties' reaction to events in the region and their unyielding attachment to mutually exclusive positions.”
The recent resolution called on the parties to continue the dialogue under the auspices of the Secretary-General without preconditions to achieve “a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.”

Last week, the Secretary-General expressed concern about alleged violations of human rights in the Western Sahara conflict and vowed to continue to promote the rights of Sahrawis after meeting with Mohamed Abdelaziz, Secretary-General of the Frente Polisario.

He reassured Mr. Abdelaziz of “the UN's commitment to maintaining an active and balanced engagement in the search for a solution to the Western Sahara conflict that provides for the self-determination for the people of Western Sahara,” according to information released by Mr. Ban's spokesperson. “The Secretary-General stated that he remains very concerned about alleged violations of human rights. He said that his Personal Envoy, Christopher Ross, and the Secretariat will continue to work to promote the human rights of Sahrawis.”