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STORY: UN / WESTERN SAHARA
TRT: 02:52
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 APRIL 2016, NEW YORK CITY
29 APRIL 2016, NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, United Nations Headquarters
2. Pan left, Security Council voting
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Power, Permanent Representative, United States:
“The Security Council must respond swiftly and proactively in any situation in which a government requires the staff from a UN peacekeeping mission immediately to depart. Our goal has been and remains securing a return to the full functionality of the MINURSO mission as soon as possible, so that it can fulfil the mandate given to it by this Council. We consider the civilian component, including the political reporting function, to be a crucial part of that mandate. This resolution provides an important signal from the Council and a realistic path to achieve that necessary return to full functionality.”
4. Med shot, representatives of the United States and Uruguay
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rafael Ramírez Carreño, Permanent Representative, Venezuela:
“Unfortunately we have to tell you that if it had been a weaker country which didn’t have friends in the Security Council, the Security Council would not have hesitated to impose sanctions as it frequently imposes on many other brotherly African nations. So we are sending a message to the international community saying that it is possible to violate the provisions of the Security Council without any consequences for the Member States.”
6. Med shot, representatives of New Zealand and Russia
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rafael Ramírez Carreño, Permanent Representative, Venezuela:
“If the Sahrawi people do not have the right to determine their own future, and the Kingdom of Morocco is allowed to continue to occupy the territory, it would be the first time since the establishment of the United Nations that the international community accepts, de facto, that a non-self-governing territory recognized as part of the process of decolonization has been annexed by force without the consent of the population.”
8. Med shot, representative of Malaysia
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Elbio Rosselli, Permanent Representative, Uruguay:
“The project (draft resolution) was prepared in consultations within a small and auto-convoked group called Western Sahara's Friends. There are here several members, Mr. President, that really feel like being Western Sahara's friends. But, apparently we don't qualify to be part of that selected group.”
10. Pan left, representative of Morocco approaching the stakeout
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative, Morocco:
“It’s not the first time that the staff of the UN have been requested to leave. There is in the past history. There was in Chad; there was in Burundi; there was in Eretria. So the Secretariat have been unfortunately, just I will not say lying, but giving wrong information. They have to read their files. They have to read the history of the UN, and you will see that it’s not the case.”
12. Med shot, reporters
13. Zoom out, representative of Morocco leaving the stakeout
The Security Council adopted a resolution today (29 APR) extending the mandate of the United Nations mission in the Western Sahara, MINURSO, for a year until April 2017. Resolution 2285 emphasized the urgent need for MINURSO to return to full functionality and requested the Secretary-General to brief the Council within 90 days on that issue.
United States ambassador Samantha Power welcomed the adoption of the resolution extending the mandate, which was set to expire tomorrow. She said the renewal was challenging and contentious and that was “an understatement.”
Power said Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Western Sahara is credible, at the same time, “the Security Council must respond swiftly and proactively in any situation in which a government requires the staff from a UN peacekeeping mission immediately to depart.”
Venezuelan ambassador Rafael Ramírez Carreño said Morocco clearly violated the provisions of the Security Council by calling on the majority of the civilian component to leave the country last month. He said, “If it had been a weaker country which didn’t have friends in the Security Council, the Security Council would not have hesitated to impose sanctions as it frequently imposes on many other brotherly African nations.”
Ramírez Carreño said the resolution was adopted under enormous pressure by the Moroccan delegation. He said with this resolution, the Council is “sending a message to the international community saying that it is possible to violate the provisions of the Security Council without any consequences.”
Uruguayan ambassador Elbio Rosselli said the draft was prepared “within a small and auto-convoked group called Western Sahara's Friends.” He said several other members felt like being friends of the Western Sahara but apparently “don't qualify to be part of that selected group.”
Rosselli said the draft was too vague and members of the Council were not given enough time to consider it. He said although the resolution regrets that MINURSO’s ability to carry out its mandate has been affected, it does not mention who is responsible.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Moroccan ambassador Omar Hilale his country is committed to facilitating MINURSO’s efforts to carry out its mandate. He said the United Nations Secretariat was “giving wrong information”. He said the civilian component of the mission still exists and they are not “reducing the work.” Hilale said MINURSO is doing its work “normally” however his national is currently focused on the military component.
Resolution 2285 received ten votes in favour, with Uruguay and Venezuela voting against and Angola, New Zealand and the Russian Federation abstaining.
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was established by the Security Council in April of 1991 in accordance with settlement proposals accepted on 30 August 1988 by Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y de Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO).
The settlement plan provided for a transitional period for the preparation of a referendum in which the people of Western Sahara would choose between independence and integration with Morocco.
