Hilale: Assessment of UN Role in Moroccan Sahara is the Sole Responsibility of the SG and Security Council

The assessment of the role of the United Nations in the Moroccan Sahara issue is the sole responsibility of the Secretary-General and the Security Council, stressed in New York the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Ambassador Omar Hilale.  In response to a question on Morocco’s take with regard to the statement by the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, in his last briefing to the Security Council, to reassess the role of the United Nations on the Sahara question in the absence of progress in the next 6 months, Hilale replied, during a press briefing, that “the reassessment of the role of the UN on the Sahara issue does not concern him and does not fall within his mandate. It falls rather within the mandate of the Secretary-General and the members of the Security Council.” The ambassador clarified, 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 to facilitate the solution between the parties”, insisting that in order to achieve significant progress, the Personal Envoy must implement his facilitation mandate “in accordance with his letter of appointment by the SG as well as the resolutions of the Security Council”.  Hilale referred to the “UN guide for the facilitation of negotiations”, which contains “clear information on the role of facilitators, whose first principle is to work to implement his mandate and the 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. Has he done so? “We don’t think so,” he said. “We encourage the Personal Envoy to use his authority effectively, rather than comply with Algeria’s refusal,” the ambassador insisted, adding that the former personal envoys, Christopher Ross and Horst Köhler, never asked Algeria and the other parties’ opinion on the dates or locations of the negotiations, in order 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 pointed out that “Morocco does not seek to assess the role of the UN”, insisting 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 the recent statement by Switzerland, 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.