On
Western Sahara
Calls For
Rights
Monitors After
Morocco Abuse
in Smara As UN
Guterres
Silent
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope, song,
II
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, June 10 – On
Western
Sahara, when
the UN
Security
Council's rare
meeting
began back on
21 March 2018,
Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres'
personal envoy
Horst Kohler walked
in with
security.
Asked if he
would speak
with the press
afterward, he
had one word:
"No." On
22 May 2019
Kohler quit
and has yet to
be replaced.
On June
10, from the
Polisario,
this: "On
Friday 7 June,
three Sahrawi
civilians were
brutally
beaten by
agents of the
Moroccan
paramilitary
and security
forces in city
of Smara,
occupied
Western
Sahara. As
shocking video
footage
documents, the
young men were
pulled from
their vehicle
and violently
attacked by
plainclothes
security
forces in
retaliation
for their
peaceful
celebration of
the release of
Sahrawi
political
prisoner,
Salah
Lebsir.
A brutal
attack by the
Moroccan
occupation
police against
a Sahrawi
citizen from
Western Sahara
Sadly, this
brazen act of
terrorism was
not an
isolated
event. Recent
months have
seen a surge
of oppression
and brutality
by Moroccan
forces against
Sahrawi
civilians
living in the
occupied
territories.
These attacks
take place
amidst a
complete media
blackout, in
which Sahrawi
journalists,
bloggers and
human rights
defenders are
unjustly
persecuted and
detained in
retaliation
for
documenting
human rights
violations in
the occupied
territory.
Such was the
case of Ms
Nazha El
Khalidi, who
was arrested
on 4 December
2018 simply
for using her
phone to
record and
live-stream a
peaceful
demonstration
in the city of
El Aaiún, the
capital of
occupied
Western
Sahara."
But
Guterres hates
live streaming -
he banned
Inner City
Press from streaming
his craven
grip and
grins, before
having Inner
City Press
roughed up
and banned now
342 days. As
Guterres'
retaliatory
ban
on Inner City
Press even
entering the
UN, now in its
300th
day and based
on a frivolous
Morocco
Mission
complaint,
the UN
Security
Council passed,
only 13-0-2, an
extension of
MINURSO's
mandate for
six months. Banned
Inner City
Press is
putting the
resolution
online here,
and notes that
under Guterres
the UN has yet
to solve
anything,
while making
most conflicts
worse. Before
the
December 19 UN
noon briefing
Inner
City Press in
writing asked
Guterres, his
Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric and
Global
Communicator
Alison Smale
who promised
answers, questions
including
this:
"December
19-3: On
Western
Sahara,
confirm SG
receipt of and
state his
response to
letter of
Polisario
urging him to
clear “mines
that threaten
the lives of
Saharwis” and
that on
Friday,
December the
14th, two
mines caused
the “death of
a Sahrawi man
and serious
injuries to
others”?
Dujarric
didn't read
out the
question the
way for
example even
the IMF does
with Inner
City Press'
questions; he
entertained
questions
from
pro-Morocco
scribes to
which he and
Guterres
and Smale give
UN office space
even if they
write no
articles. Today's UN
is corrupt.
***
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