UN
Officials
Blame France
for Ban's
Whitewash of
Restrictions
in Western
Sahara,
Threats of
Retaliation
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 17 --
When the
Western Sahara
report of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
watered down
this year,
from an April
6 to an
April 11
"final"
version, the
first
questions were
directed
at Morocco.
But
on April 16
senior Ban
administration
official told
Inner City
Press the
larger
hypocrisy is
France's, and
sell-out of
the UN is by
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to run the
UN Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
(DPKO).
"French
diplomats
here are lying
when they
preach so
publicly about
human
rights and
accountability,"
one official
put it on
condition of
anonymity
because Ban
has
retaliated,
apparently at
France's
request,
against UN
staff who have
questioned the
Elysee and
Quai d'Orsay.
"France has
blocked human
rights in
Western
Sahara, and
used
DPKO to
continue its
colonial
project."
Click here
for an
investigative
piece one year
ago which the
French mission
asked be
censored,
calling it a
"hostile act."
On
April 14, 2012
after
Morocco's
Permanent
Representative
Loulichki
spoke about
the new
advance
observer
mission to
Syria needing
to have
freedom of
movement,
which is
certainly
true, Inner
City Press
asked
Loulichki to
square this
with even the
April
11 UN report's
Paragraph 46
that in
Western
Sahara, the
MINURSO
peacekeepers
do not have
freedom of
movement, are
monitored and
their
communications
with people
impaired.
Loulichki
said
this was
entirely
different,
that he would
address it
after Syria
questions. But
he left the
stakeout
without
answering the
question. Video
here.
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
despite a
speech in the
Security
Council
chamber that
day about
accountability
did not come
to the
stakeout to
take
questions,
unlike his
fellow
Permanent
Representatives
from the United
Kingdom,
Russia
and the United
States.
During
France's last
presidency of
the Security
Council, its
Ambassador
Araud gave the
fewest Q&A
stakeouts on
record: three.
In
this year's
Western Sahara
report, Inner
City Press was
referring to
deletions from
Paragraph 46,
which its in
April 6
version stated
that
"MINURSO
civilian
personnel
movements
there are
closely
monitored with
the consequent
chilling
effect on
interaction
with the full
spectrum of
local
interlocutors.
In parallel,
the Moroccan
police
surveillance
outside the
compound
discourages
visitors from
approaching
MINURSO in an
independent
capacity;
Mission staff
who have
received such
visitors have
been taken to
task by
Moroccan
authorities."
In the
April 11
version this
is air-brushed
to
"access
to
external
contacts is
controlled
[monitored
(the word is
crossed out)]
which has an
effect on
interaction
with the full
spectrum of
local
interlocutors.
In parallel,
Moroccan
police
presence
outside the
compound
discourages
visitors from
approaching
MINURSO in an
independent
capacity.
There were
also
indications
that the
confidentiality
of
communications
between
MINURSO
headquarters
and New York
was, at least
on occasion,
compromised."
Compare April 6 version,
here,
especially
Paragraph 46,
with April
11 changed
version, here.
So
at the April
16 UN noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey to
explain:
Inner
City
Press: I have
seen the
Secretary-General
say that there
needs to
be full
freedom of
movement, for
the observers
in Syria, and
that it
is the
Government’s
responsibility
to ensure
that... This
Secretary-General’s
report on
MINURSO in
Western
Sahara,
paragraph
46 of it says
very clearly
that the
MINURSO
peacekeepers
are
monitored by
the Moroccan
authorities,
that
individuals
cannot
approach them
and speak, and
so I just
wanted to
know, in
putting
forward this
report, is
there
something that
the
Secretary-General
is
complaining
about the
freedom of
movement, or
is it somehow
okay in
one mission
and not in
another?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, I’ll
have to check
on that
Matthew, I
think Martin
answered a
question on
MINURSO last
week, if I am
not
mistaken.
Inner
City
Press: He said
he wouldn’t
comment on a
change in the
report,
but I am
saying even as
changed, it
just describes
factually
without
complaining
about a lack
of [freedom of
movement]…if
you don’t
have something
now, maybe by
later this
afternoon you
can…
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, let’s
see what we
can get for
you,
let’s see what
we can get for
you.
But
for the rest
of
the day, on
the eve of the
Western Sahara
session of the
Security
Council, no
information
was provided.
Behind the
scenes, the
French
mission has
been taking
other moves to
try to stamp
out criticism
of
its activities
and officials.
Watch this
site.
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