Rabat – Commenting on the adoption of Resolution 2414 by the UN Security Council on Western Sahara, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Omar Hilale urged Algeria to shoulder its responsibility in the conflict.
The Algeria-backed Polisario Front “has been clearly” rebuked by the international community because of multiple provocative actions aimed at hindering the UN mediation on the Western Sahara conflict,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Hilale said the United Nations executive body used strict and precise language in reaction to the recent maneuvers of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.
Hilale added that the resolution validated Morocco’s grave concerns over the destabilizing situation east of Morocco’s defense wall.
“The executive body of the United Nations has used extremely strong language against the Polisario separatists, in order to put an end to these serious provocations in these two areas,” said Hilale, adding that the Security Council tackled the situation in a “firm and responsible” manner.
According to Hilal, the resolution represents a “frank and strong” support for Morocco’s key requests: urging the Polisario Front to withdraw from Guerguerat buffer zone and, secondly, more productive involvement from Algeria in the process to end the conflict.
The Security Souncil on Friday put heavy pressure on the Polisario Front, urging it to withdraw immediately from the Guerguerate and to refrain from relocating parts of its administrative facilities from Algeria’s Tindouf camps to Bir Lahlou, east of Morocco’s defense wall.
Those actions, according to the Security Council, will hinder the stability and the legal status of the region.
Recalling the United Nations and Security Council’s recent warnings addressed to Polisario, Hilal said that the unanimous UN reactions underscore the Security Council’s firm rejection of any attempts by the Polisario to change “the realities on the ground.”
“The Council now considers [those attempts] to be a violation of the ceasefire, and a serious threat to the political process that the Secretary General’s Personal Envoy, Horst Köhler, is actively engaged in relaunching,” he said.
The Polisario Front’s actions have reignited tensions in the region, which led Morocco to step up its rhetoric and to threaten to take military actions in the case the UN failed to shoulder its responsibility.
Following the adoption of the new Security Council resolution on Friday, the Polisario Front has now been left with no choice:
“Either they comply with the demands of the Security Council and withdraw, or own the serious consequences that will result from their unlawful actions,” Hilale told the press.
The Moroccan official also expressed his satisfaction with (always satisfaction with not over, disappointed with not over) the Security Council’s decision to call on Algeria to shoulder its responsibility and to cooperate in finding a mutually acceptable political solution to end the conflict.
“The Council has asked it [Algeria], in a new paragraph, to increase its commitment to the negotiation process and to fulfill its special and essential role in supporting the political process,” he added.
