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WESTERN SAHARA / BAN WRAP
STORY: WESTERN SAHARA/BAN WRAP
TRT:2:58
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 5 MARCH 2016, TINDOUF, ALGERIA/ BIR LAHLOU, WESTERN SAHARA
5 MARCH 2016, SMARA REFUGEE CAMP, ALGERIA
1. Aerial shot, refugee camp
2. Aerial shot, Polisario units lined up on the side of the road
3. Tracking shot, Polisario units
5 MARCH 2016, RABOUNI, ALGERIA
4. Various shots, Ban and Polisario SG Abdelazaiz at the meeting
5. Wide shot, cameras
6. Wide shot, press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations:
"The humanitarian conditions are very dire and we have to work to provide education for young people and we have to provide food, water, sanitation and livelihood [support] to all these people. So [the] United Nations will do much more with the international community."
8. Cutaway, reporters
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations:
"The Saharawis have endured a great deal of suffering in harsh conditions. I want to draw the world’s attention to a population whose plight is often overlooked."
5 MARCH 2016, SMARA REFUGEE CAMP, ALGERIA
10. Tracking shot, women demonstrating
11. Various shots, demonstrators crowding Ban's car
5 MARCH 2016, RABOUNI, ALGERIA
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations:
"What really moved and, even, saddened me was the anger. Many people expressed their anger."
5 MARCH 2016, BIR LAHLOU, WESTERN SAHARA
13. Areial shot, "sand wall" in Western Sahara
14. Wide shot, helicopter landing
15. Med shot, Ban disembarking
16. Wide shot, military parade
17. Med shot, UN flag
18. Med shot, Ban shaking hands with UN mil. observers
19. Various shots, Ban at a demeaning training site
Calling to alleviate the plight of Sahrawi refugees in Algeria, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "I want to draw the world’s attention to a population whose plight is often overlooked."
On Saturday (5 Mar)Secretary-General visited the Sahrawi refugee camps near the Algerian city of Tindouf, which are among the world’s oldest refugee camps, and currently totally dependent on external assistance. The UN humanitarian agencies are present there since 1986.
After a meeting with Mohamed Abdelaziz, the Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Ban told reporters "the UN will do much more" to alleviate a dire humanitarian situation and "provide education for young people and we have to provide food, water, sanitation and livelihood."
He said "the Saharawis have endured a great deal of suffering in harsh conditions. I want to draw the world’s attention to a population whose plight is often overlooked."
Describing his impressions of what he saw while driving through Smara refugee camp earlier today, Ban said ""What really moved and, even, saddened me was the anger. Many people expressed their anger."
The Secretary-General also visited Bir Lahlou, one of five MINURSO's (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) team sites located in the eastern part of Western Sahara, under the control of the Frente Polisario. Unarmed military observers are responsible for monitoring the ceasefire between bthe Frente Polisario Armed Forces and the Royal Moroccan Army.
Ban also toured a Mine Action training site, where UN Mine Action Service is training Saharawi men and women in demeaning. Western Sahara remains heavily contaminated by landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war.
Fighting broke out between Morocco and the Polisario Front following the end of Spain's colonial administration of Western Sahara in 1976. A ceasefire was reached in September 1991, and a UN mission—known as MINURSO—has been tasked with monitoring this ceasefire and organizing a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara, which the Security Council has been requesting since 2004.
Meanwhile, Morocco has presented a plan for autonomy, while the Polisario Front's position is that the Territory's final status should be decided in a referendum on self-determination that includes independence as an option.
The parties to the Western Sahara conflict have not made any real progress in the negotiations towards a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution.
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