Renewal of Western Sahara Mission
Tomorrow (24 April), Security Council members are set to adopt a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for another year. A draft resolution was discussed by the Group of Friends of Western Sahara (France, Russia, US, UK and Spain) earlier in the month. This draft was subsequently shared with Council members following the briefing in consultations on MINURSO on 17 April when the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Christopher Ross, and the head of MINURSO, Hany Abdel-Aziz, briefed the Council on recent developments and on the latest report of the Secretary-General (S/2012/197).
The draft resolution was put in blue on Friday evening (20 April) and does not differ fundamentally from resolution 1979, which renewed MINURSO’s mandate in 2011. The draft text seeks cooperation from both parties for MINURSO’s operations and also calls upon them to continue negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General, without preconditions. In line with resolution 1979, the draft text also contains language encouraging the parties to work towards a mutually acceptable political solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
However, there are some differences. The draft in blue includes a request for the Secretary-General to brief at least twice a year on the “challenges to MINURSO’s operations and steps taken to address them”. (Resolution 1979 requested the Secretary-General to “examine the existing challenges to MINURSO’s operations, reflecting on the situation on the ground”.) It seems that some Council members felt it was not necessary for the Secretary-General to brief on these challenges twice a year but others believed that it was important for the Council to be kept abreast of developments more regularly.
The draft in blue also contains additional language specifying the need for free interaction with all interlocutors. It appears that during negotiations this was a point of contention as some members felt that as the Secretary-General’s report did not suggest a problem with free interaction such language might send a contradictory message.(It seems, however, that earlier versions of the Secretary-General’s report did allude to this issue.)
It seems that Council members, who might have previously fought harder for an independent human rights component to be introduced in MINURSO’s mandate, realised that the mood in the Council this year on this issue would make it difficult to get agreement on such a mechanism. This appears to have been reinforced by the various versions of the Secretary-General’s report on Western Sahara which were released inadvertently and which reflected changes that indicated a reluctance to delve into some of the more difficult issues facing MINURSO. These members also appear to be disappointed that the Council was unable to use the changes that have taken place in neighbouring countries as a way of encouraging the parties in Western Sahara to break their stalemate.
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