On
W.
Sahara, UN
Airbrushes
Spying &
Drops Moroccan
Flags From
April 6 Report
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 12 --
The day after
Inner City
Press first
reported
substantial
changes
between the
April 6 and
April 11
versions of
the
UN's report on
its mission in
Western
Sahara,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
refused to
explain the
revision
process or who
had input. Video
here, from
Minute 12:25.
Inner
City Press
asked in
particular
about
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.
The
Frente
Polisario had
written to the
Security
Council to
complain of
the
deletion of
reporting of
21 Moroccan
flags around
the MINURSO
headquarters
in Aaiun,
"undermining
the
independence
and
impartiality
of the UN."
Inner City
Press is putting
the letter
online, here.
It
was about this
that Inner
City Press
sought to ask
spokesman
Nesirky. But
he merely
said, and
repeated, that
it is not
unprecedented
for there to
be such
changes. As
Inner City
Press reported
and pointed
out, it
happened
last year,
too, under
Alain Le Roy
who was the
third
Frenchman in a
row to head UN
Peacekeeping.
Now
under the
fourth
Frenchman,
Herve Ladsous,
the process is
even more
blatant,
with changes
dictated even
after a draft
is circulated
to Security
Council
members and
otherwise.
Also noted is
the hypocrisy
of certain
of these
Security
Council
members who
make much when
it suits them
of
the importance
of independent
reports not
subject to
political
interference
on issues like
Iran, DPRK and
Sudan
sanctions --
but
think ordering
changes on
reports like
this MINURSO
one is
perfectly
fine.
Again,
most
tellingly, the
April 6
versions said
that MINURSO
was
"intended
to
operate for
three critical
purposes: 1)
as an
instrument of
stability in
the event that
the political
stalemate
continues; 2)
as
a mechanism to
implement a
referendum on
self-determination
in the
event that the
talks led by
my Personal
Envoy are
successful;
and 3)
to provide
independent
information on
conditions in
the Territory
to
the
Secretariat,
the Security
Council, and
the
international
community."
The
revised
April 11
version
changes 2) to
"as
a
mechanism to
support
implementation
of successive
Security
Council
resolutions
related to the
mandate of
MINURSO (the
United Nations
Mission for
the Referendum
in Western
Sahara)."
Compare
April
6 version,
here,
especially
from Paragraph
114, with April 11 changed
version, here.
How
will
envoy
Christopher
Ross respond?
His briefing
is scheduled
for
April 17.
Watch this
site.
, 
