UNSC DISCUSSES WESTERN SAHARA AND RENEWAL OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000434

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2019
TAGS: PBTS PREL WI MO UNSC XI
SUBJECT: UNSC DISCUSSES WESTERN SAHARA AND RENEWAL OF
MINURSO

Classified By: Ambassador Rice, For Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: The Security Council on April 22 held closed
consultations on the question of Western Sahara and the
renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the
Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Edmond Mulet, the
Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations (DPKO),and Christopher Ross, the Personal Envoy
of the Secretary General, respectively briefed the Council on
the operations of MINURSO, and the status of negotiations
between Morocco and the Polisario. All delegations supported
the extension of MINURSO's mandate for one year, welcomed the
appointment of Christopher Ross and his initial contact with
the parties, and in varying degrees encouraged progress on
the humanitarian situation of the Sahrawi refugees. End
Summary.


2. (C) In the first meeting of the Security Council on the
issue of Western Sahara since April 2008, Edmond Mulet,
Assistant Secretary-General of DPKO, opened the meeting and
summarized the Secretary-General's report on Western Sahara
(published on April 14, 2009). Mulet said the situation in
Western Sahara was generally calm, despite sporadic tensions
between the Polisario and the Royal Moroccan Army (RMA). He
said the five civilians injured in early April from a mine
explosion while demonstrating in front of an RMA post
highlighted the need for a peaceful solution to the impasse.
Despite the incident, however, Mulet said the 800
demonstrators aligned with the Polisario did not violate the
cease-fire agreement between Morocco and the Polisario
because the demonstrators were unarmed. Mulet said MINURSO
enjoyed good relations with the RMA and the Polisario. He
indicated that issues related to human rights continued to be
at the forefront of rhetoric and accusations between the
parties, but he recalled that MINURSO has no specific
human-rights monitoring mandate to follow through on these
statements.


The New Envoy Sets the Stage
--------------


3. (C) Christopher Ross said that in the three months since
his appointment, he had held discussions with the parties,
the neighboring states, the Group of Friends, and Council
members. Ross said his initial exchanges with King Mohammed
VI, Polisario Secretary-General Abdelaziz, and President
Bouteflika showed that their positions had not changed on
Western Sahara since the fourth round of talks in Manhasset.
According to Ross, their intransigence derives from the
parties' completely different readings of successive Security
Council resolutions and the 1975 International Court of
Justice ruling and other pronouncements. To move the parties
from their hardened positions, Ross recommended small,
informal meetings of the parties (to include participation of
Algeria) prior to a fifth round of formal negotiations in
Manhasset.


4. (C) Ross said the Polisario had repeatedly expressed the
view that the UN should act to settle the dispute, citing
various plans of James Baker, the former Personal Envoy.
Ross said he had expressed to the Polisario that the UN
cannot impose a solution, but conceded that while the Baker
plans per se are no longer on the table, any elements the
parties deem useful, including a transitional period and a
referendum, can be revived if the parties agree. Ross noted
that the one issue that has consistently emerged in his talks
was human rights, with the Polisario calling for a
human-rights regime to be established in the territories and
Morocco claiming that its human-rights record had improved
dramatically and the Polisario used this issue only for
political gain.


Council Members Agree on Broad Issues, Differ on Tactics
-------------- --------------


5. (C) All 15 Security Council members demonstrated unanimity
in their warm welcome to Ross and in his initial approach
with the parties. Uganda was the first delegation to speak,
with the Ugandan Ambassador commending Ross for his efforts
in carrying out his mandate and in his consulting with the
parties early in the process. Ambassador Rice said the U.S.
strongly supports Ross' plan to hold preparatory meetings and
called upon the parties to negotiate in good faith and
without preconditions. The UK Counselor said the UK believed
that the parties should re-energize the process under Ross'
guidance, and the French Ambassador said he was glad that the
parties had expressed their support to meet informally prior
to a fifth round of negotiations. The Russian delegate


supported Ross' approach to hold informal negotiations and
was happy to see the parties had accepted Ross' proposal.
Furthermore, the Russian delegate said the Ross' contact with
James Baker was important and that Baker's proposals still
remained relevant. France was the only delegation to voice
support for Morocco's autonomy proposal, which had "breathed
new life" into a hitherto moribund process.


6. (C) Although differing in approach and language, all
Council members raised the humanitarian issue, whether by
focusing on success made in demining and confidence-building
measures, or in calling for more serious UN engagement on
human rights. Uganda was the only delegation to call for,
without caveats, the expansion of MINURSO's mandate to
include a human-rights monitoring role, explaining that
MINURSO was the only contemporary peace-keeping mission that
lacked such a mandate. Moreover, Uganda was the only
delegation to explicitly raise the issue of exploitation of
Western Sahara's phosphate mines and its fisheries. Referring
to the Security Council debate the previous day on mediation
of disputes, the Costa Rican delegate asked why MINURSO was
an exception to the general call for human-rights monitoring
in other missions. However, Costa Rica did not formally
request an expansion of the mandate but said the Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights should have a role in
Western Sahara. The Mexican Ambassador said he realized that
adding a human-rights mandate to MINURSO was a difficult and
potentially politicizing action to take, but he opined that
any such mandate would have to be balanced to avoid
alienating the parties. Russia said that although
human-rights monitoring was not part of MINURSO's current
mandate, the mission still serves as a venue for promoting
humanitarian issues. Austria called on the parties to
continue to cooperate with the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees.


7. (C) Echoing the recommendation of the Secretary-General's
report, all members agreed to a one-year extension of MINURSO
(until April 30, 2010). The Japanese Ambassador called for
the UN to provide a mid-term report of the status of
negotiations; the Costa Rican delegate asked for a "progress
report" and said he was specifically emphasizing the
"progress" part of the phrase. Russia did not call for a
specific briefing or report but requested that the Council be
kept apprised of the status of negotiations.

Rice