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STORY: UN / BAN MOROCCO MEZOUAR
TRT: 01:02
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: 14 MARCH 2016, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1 Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
14 MARCH 2016, NEW YORK CITY
2. Med shot, Moroccan Foreign Minister entering the meeting room
3. Med shot, UN Secretary-General greeting the Moroccan Foreign Minister posing for photo op
4. Close up, UN Secretary-General and Moroccan Foreign Minister posing for photo op
5. Various shots, UN Secretary-General and Moroccan Foreign Minister during the meeting
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Monday (14 Mar) with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco Salaheddine Mezouar at United Nations Headquarters.
The status of the Western Sahara territory remains to be decided, as it is a non-self-governing territory.
Last Saturday, the Secretary-General personally witnessed a desperate situation in a Western Sahara refugee camp resulting from decades of life without hope in the harshest conditions. He stressed that the Sahrawi refugees deserve a better future. He referred to “occupation” as related to the inability of Sahrawi refugees to return home under conditions that include satisfactory governance arrangements under which all Sahrawis can freely express their desires.
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.
