On
Western Sahara
UNSC Meets
More Secretly
Than Usual No
Belgium Answer
Guterres Fails
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope, song,
II
UN GATE, April 9
– On
Western
Sahara, Inner
City Press has
repeatedly
asked UN
Secretary General
Antonio
Guterres, his
spokesmen and
now
Communications
chief Melissa
Fleming
about sexual
harassment
charges
against his representative
Colin Stewart,
which it has
exclusively
reported as
credited here
and even here.
Guterres
has refused to
answer, and on
August 30, 2019
denied
Inner City
Press access
to the UNGA week he
let dozens of
Moroccan
state media
into as he and
Fleming
continue
the ban on
Inner City
Press
supported by a
frivolous
complaint filed
against Inner
City Press'
coverage from
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout. On
Sept 16, see
"prayer" video
here.
Now on April 9
amid the
Coronavirus
pandemic in which
Saharawi
political
prisoners are
still
trapped in
Moroccan jails,
the UN Security
Council met even
more secretly
than usual;
Belgium, to
which Inner
City Press
directed a question,
did not answer.
So this: "The
Frente
POLISARIO
deeply regrets
that the UN
Security
Council today
failed to send
a clear signal
regarding its
united support
for the UN-led
peace process
on Western
Sahara.
Today’s
consultations
on the UN
Mission for
the Referendum
in Western
Sahara
(MINURSO)
offered
another chance
for the
Council to
stand strongly
behind
international
law and
reinvigorate
the stalled
political
process.
Instead, the
Council opted
for inaction
and delivered
no concrete
action or
outcome.
Since the
resignation of
the
Secretary-General’s
former
Personal Envoy
for Western
Sahara,
President
Horst Köhler,
in May 2019,
the Security
Council has
done nothing
to reactivate
the UN-led
peace process
or stop
Morocco from
sabotaging the
process. To
the contrary,
the Security
Council has
stood by as
Morocco, the
occupying
power of
Western
Sahara,
brazenly
engaged in a
series of
destabilising
and
provocative
actions
including,
inter alia,
the unlawful
opening of
so-called
“consulates”
by foreign
entities in
occupied
Western
Sahara. The
Council has
also failed to
condemn
Morocco’s
flagrant
violations of
Military
Agreement No.
1 and has
permitted
Morocco to set
self-serving
preconditions
on the
appointment of
the UN
Secretary-General’s
next Personal
Envoy.
Failure to
make progress
in the
political
process and
the silence
and inaction
of the UN
Secretariat
and the
Security
Council in the
face of
Morocco’s
unlawful and
destabilising
actions have
further
deepened the
loss of faith
amid the
Sahrawi people
in the peace
process.
Neither the UN
Secretariat
nor the
Security
Council has
taken any of
the actions
that we have
outlined in
our letter
(S/2020/66)
with a view to
restoring our
people’s
confidence in
the UN
process. As a
result, we
continue to
reconsider our
engagement in
the UN
political
process in its
current form,
which we
consider a
serious
departure from
the mutually
agreed peace
plan that
sustains the
existing
ceasefire and
related
military
agreements and
determines the
role and
responsibilities
of the UN
Mission in
Western
Sahara."
On
December 23
Guterres'
Franco-spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
promoted in
advance that
he would speak
about MINURSO
at noon. But
it was not
to name a
replacement of
Horst Kohler.
Instead, it
was to in essence
apologize
to Morocco for
two UN
military
observers
briefly
visiting a
POLISARIO meeting.
Video here.
On
December
25, Sahara
News gloated
about
Dujarric's
craven apology
like a
Christmas gift.
This is
just another
example of #DoojDelivers,
as he also did
for Saudi
state media on
December 24, helping
provide a fig
leaf the the scam
trial for the
murder of
Jamal Khashoggi. For
corrupt
Antonio
Guterres, #DoojDelivers.
We will track
this in 2020.
***
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