Monday, August 27, 2012

Ban rejects Morocco’s calls to replace Western Sahara envoy

Ban rejects Morocco’s calls to replace Western Sahara envoy

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon, right, told Morocco’s monarch he would not give in to demands to change his peace envoy on the Western Sahara. (Photo courtesy of Hespress)
By AFP / UNITED NATIONS
U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon on Saturday told Morocco’s monarch he would not give in to demands to change his peace envoy on the Western Sahara conflict, diplomats said.

Morocco announced in May that it no longer has confidence in U.N. envoy Christopher Ross, who it accused of being “unbalanced and biased” in attempts to mediate a solution for the disputed territory at the heart of one of Africa’s oldest conflicts.
But in a telephone call, Ban told King Mohammed VI “the United Nations does not intend to modify the terms of its mediation, whose purpose is to promote the achievement of a mutually acceptable political solution to this conflict,” U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

Ban said that Ross and the head of the U.N. mission in Western Sahara, Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber, “will fulfill their respective mandates in promoting the negotiating process,” Nesirky added in a statement.

U.N. diplomats said Morocco has demanded that Ross be replaced and that Ban’s call with the King Mohammed was intended to reaffirm his refusal to give in to pressure.

The U.N. has several times vouched its support for Ross, despite the deadlock in his efforts to broker peace talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front separatist group. The UN has also accused Morocco of seeking to undermine the work of the U.N. mission in Western Sahara. (...)

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