As
US
Susan Rice
Says UN Must
Move Freely in
Syria, Why Not
in Western
Sahara?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 18 --
Some
comparisons
have to be
made, even as
they
are resisted.
On Wednesday
in front of
the UN
Security
Council
Ambassador
Susan Rice
said:
"From
the
U.S. point of
view.... we
think that any
UN Mission,
including
any UN Mission
in Syria,
needs to be
able to
operate with
the
independence,
the freedom of
movement, the
freedom of
communications-all
of the
traditional
freedoms that
are necessary
for
an effective
and neutral UN
presence
anywhere in
the world."
But
currently
before the
Security
Council, of
which
Ambassador
serves as
President
this month, is
a report about
the UN Mission
in Western
Sahara,
MINURSO, which
even as
watered down
details how
these UN
peacekeepers
are monitored,
do not have
freedom of
movement, and
have had their
communications
compromised.
Paragraph
46 of
the twice-modified
MINSURSO
report states
that
"the
Moroccan
police
presence
outside the
compound
discourages
visitors
from
approaching
MINURSO in an
independent
capacity.
There have
also
been
indications
that the
confidentiality
of the
communications
between
MINURSO
headquarters
and New York
has, at least
on occasion,
been
compromised."
Some
conclude, now
based on
Ambassador
Rice's
statement
about Syria,
that the US
must
acknowledge
that MINURSO
as constrained
is NOT
"effective"
and cannot be
seen as
"neutral."
Accepting
this, and even
covering it
up, has
undermined the
UN. Rice
continued on
Wednesday:
"we
can't
accept a set
of
circumstances
in Syria that
we wouldn't
accept
anywhere else
or that
violates
65 plus years
of UN best
practice and
principle."
But
the UN and US
both did
accept these
restrictions
in Western
Sahara. That
should
end. So should
the UN's cover
up. At the
April 17 noon
briefing
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey:
Inner
City
Press: there
is in the
report of the
Secretary-General
on
Western
Sahara, it
says that the
Moroccan
Government has
informed
MINURSO that
it cannot open
any office in
Dakhla, which
is a place
where there
was violence
last
September,
where the
Special Envoy,
Mr.
Ross, has
expressed a
desire to have
a presence of
the UN
political
officers. Does
the
Secretary-General
think that in
the same way
that
he is calling
for freedom of
movement in
Syria, that
this blockage
is
a problem and
does he think
that the UN
should be able
to go to this
place, Dakhla,
in Western
Sahara?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, the
Secretary-General
has always
called for
freedom of
movement for
United Nations
missions in
Member States
and
that stands to
reason.
Inner
City
Press: So,
what is
MINURSO
actually doing
about it in
terms of
actually
getting
freedom of
movement to go
there?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, they are
in discussions
with the
Moroccan
Government.
Yes?
[The
Deputy
Spokesperson
later noted
that paragraph
27 of the
Secretary-General’s
report on
Western Sahara
stated that
“The
military
component
remains
deployed at
nine team
sites and at
liaison
offices in
Tindouf and in
Dakhla.”]
While
the UN
inserted this
into the
transcript,
the report
in question
states, in
Paragraph 45
"The
Moroccan
authorities
...advised the
Mission that
no MINURSO
office
presence could
be established
outside
Laayoune."
Inner
City Press
asked envoy
Christopher
Ross, who
forthrightly
said that the
Moroccans do
not want
political
affairs
office(rs) in
Dhakla. So why
would Ban's
spokesperson's
office be
trying to say
everything is
okay, even as
disproved by
the report
that Ban and
his head of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
allowed to be
watered down
for Morocco
and
France?
On
Saturday,
April 14 Inner
City Press asked
Morocco's
Permanent
Representative
Loulichki to
contrast
freedom of
movement in
Western Sahara
from that
being called
for in Syria.
He said he
would answer,
but has yet
to.
After the
question was
asked, at
least one
Permanent
Representative
and an
involved
Deputy
Permanent
Representative,
standing to
the side
of the
stakeout, took
note and even
laughed.
But how to
explain
Ambassador
Rice's
statements
Wednesday
about Syria,
and the
pending
report and resolution
on Western
Sahara? We
would welcome
a public
explanation of
this, and will
publish it
whenever, now
or until
action on the
MINSURSO
resolution
before the end
of April and
the US
Presidency of
the Security
Council. Watch
this site.
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