By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 24 --
The UN Mission
for the
Referendum in
Western
Sahara,
MINURSO, which
has yet to
hold any
referendum, is
being reviewed
behind closed
doors in the
UN Security
Council, with
the UN's
ambiguous
position on
(not)
including
human rights
monitoring in
the mission's
mandate and on
exploitation
of natural
resources once
again coming
to the fore.
On April 22,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN
Spokesman
Inner
City Press: on
Western
Sahara, I
think it was a
week ago, I
asked
it was
a kind of
confirm or
deny these
reports of a
clash between
Moroccan
security and
protesters in
Laayoune, you
said you'd ask
MINURSO
[United
Nations
Mission for
the Referendum
in Western
Sahara].
Given that a
week has gone
by and today
is the day of
the
consultations,
did you ask
them and they
say it didn't
happen
?
Spokesman:
We owe you an
answer.
On
April
23, at the beginning
of the UN noon
briefing (UN
transcript
here), the UN
Spokesman said:
Mr.
Lee, you had
asked about
Western
Sahara:
MINURSO
[United
Nations
Mission for
the Referendum
in Western
Sahara] has
received
reports of
violence
during a
protest in
Laayoune last
week that
resulted in
protesters
being
injured.
The Mission
has been in
touch with the
relevant
authorities
and will
continue to
follow up.
Follow up? Why
did this take
a week?
On
April 22
before the
consultations
began, a group
of Moroccan
diplomats
greeted
Council
Ambassadors as
they went in.
They are, it
is
acknowledged,
doing their
job. Polisario
was nowhere to
be seen. At
the stakeout
already there
was talk that
while
Polisario
should be able
to speak at
the UNTV
microphone --
Hilary Clinton
did -- there
would be a
block.
On
April 21 when
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson met
with Kim
Bolduc, she
was listed
not as head of
MINURSO but of
MONUSCO in the
Congo. Photo
here.
Inner City
Press asked
and was told
it was a
mistake.
On
(the lack of)
human rights
monitoring, on
April 15 Inner
City Press
asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Inner
City Press:
there are
reports and I
wanted to know
whether you or
MINURSO
[United
Nations
Mission for
the Referendum
in Western
Sahara] know
if they are
true of a,
quote,
Moroccan
crackdown on
demonstrations
in [inaudible]
directed at
the idea of
there being a
human rights
monitoring
mechanism so
it
Spokesman
Dujarric:
We will ask
our colleagues
in MINURSO.
But
nine hours
later, no
answer, no
information.
No monitoring.
Meanwhile,
Inner City
Press has
become aware
that Morocco
wrote to the
Security
Council; Inner
City Press has
uploaded
the letter
here.
On April 10
Inner City
Press obtained
from multiple
sources the
advance copy
of Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
report on the
MINURSO
mission. We
published it
in full here
and embedded
below (unlike
others who try to
remove things
from the
Internet, like
here).
On
April 13,
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric said
the report
"speaks for
itself;" Inner
City Press
asked how that
applies to
Paragraph 62
merely
reciting
Morocco's and
the Frente
Polisario's
positions for
and against
oil drilling
at this time.
Video
here.
Dujraric
said he had
"nothing to
add;" he also
said that
enovy
Christopher
Ross will help
provide more
details. On
the record?
While there
has been no
formal
response to
the African
Union's
request that
the UN
Security
Council at
least hear
from its envoy
Chissano,
Inner City
Press asks why
at a minimum
an Arria
formula
meeting could
not be set up?
These do not
require
unanimity,
even of some
members
boycott, as
might happen
here, the
meeting goes
forward. We'll
have more on
this.
Meanwhile,
with regard to
claims about
then-Office of
Legal Affairs
chief Hans
Corell's 2002
letter, UN
Doc.
S/2002/161,
here are
links to two
of his
publications
since, here
("The
Responsibility
of the UN
Security
Council in the
Case of
Western
Sahara. In:
International
Judicial
Monitor,
Winter 2015
Issue") and
most recently
here
("Western
Sahara: the EU
should
reconsider its
fisheries
agreement with
Morocco. In:
New Europe, 12
April 2015.)
, 
