On
Western
Sahara, France
Says Only 1
"Friend Has
Problems,"
Draft Not
Agreed?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 17 --
When the
Western Sahara
meeting of the
UN
Security
Council let
out on
Tuesday, Inner
City Press
asked French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
if he thought
the so-called
Group of
Friends
on Western
Sahara would
come to an
internal
agreement on
the draft
resolution
needed to
extend the
mandate of the
UN
Peacekeeping
mission
MINURSO before
distributing
it to all
Security
Council
members.
In
the past when
this Group
which does not
contain any
members from
the African
Union
which supports
Western
Sahara's right
to a
referendum on
self-determination
released a
draft its
members all
agreed and
were
sworn to
support the
draft in the
wider Security
Council,
making
further input
and change
impossible. If
the Friends
are not
agreed,
the other
members can
have a say.
Araud
replied,
"Yes, I hope
so. There is
still I guess
one of the
Friends that
has problems.
But I think we
are close to
an agreement."
Multiple
sources
have told
Inner City
Press that
France,
represented at
this stage on
the Group of
Friends by its
expert Mariam
Diallo, has
been opposing
the resolution
trying to
ensure the
MINURSO
mission's
"effectiveness"
and, as
before, human
rights
monitoring of
the type other
UN
peacekeeping
missions have.
In
terms of
Araud's
assessment
that only "one
of the
Friends.. has
problems,"
Inner City
Press is told
that there at
least two.
A
Security
Council
member
excluded from
the Group of
Friends, South
Africa, said
that
the Friends
have promised
to circulate a
draft "later
today,"
whether it's
agreed to by
all the
Friends of
not. South
African
Permanent
Representative
Baso Sangqu
told Inner
City Press,
"Our
issue was that
the earlier we
all get
involved,the
better for
everybody."
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