"By deciding today to preserve the whole of the resolution 1813, the Security Council puts the UN's action and the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on the path of continuity, thereby refusing to go backward, as is advocated by the other parties, and further consolidating the process engaged since April 2007 thanks to the Moroccan autonomy Initiative," the statement continued.

    “Thus, the Council called, exclusively and once more, the kingdom’s efforts “serious and credible”, affirmed the preeminence of the Moroccan autonomy Initiative and reiterated the call for a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations,  building on realism and the spirit of compromise and taking into account the efforts made by Morocco since 2006,” the statement said.

    “Moreover, and like the Secretary Council in his report (S/2009/200 of April 13, 2009), the security Council confirmed the centrality of the negotiations process and refused to give in to political blackmail, shameless practices of harassment and instrumentalisation and attempts to circumvent the fundamental path of negotiations,” the ministry said.
   
    The statement noted that “the Council stressed, in the preamble of the resolution, the importance of making progress on the human dimension of the conflict, affirming Morocco’s repeated calls to loosen the grip on the populations of the Tindouf camps, in Algeria, and put an end to the sufferings and separation conditions sustained by them.”

    “The kingdom of Morocco hopes that Algeria will respond to the Security Council’s call and allow, in a spirit of transparency and constructive dialogue, the HCR to accomplish, without let or hindrance, its humanitarian mandate of protection, particularly through the identification and the registration of these populations, as well as through enabling these populations to exercise their right to freely return to their families.”

    The statement underlined that just like the Security Council, Morocco stresses the importance of the ongoing confidence-building measures, between the populations of the Tindouf camps on the Algerian territory and their families in the homeland. These measures, it went on, should be pursued in full respect for their humanitarian dimension and with no political instrumentalisation.

    “Furthermore, Morocco notes that the Security Council, like the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Christopher Ross, calls once again on Algeria to cooperate not only with the United Nations but also with Morocco to reach a political, realistic solution to this dispute,” it said.

    The ministry added, in this regard, that Morocco notes the pertinence of positions expressed by several members of the Council on the responsibility of the Sates of the region and the urgent need for the Maghreb cooperation.”

    “The Kingdom of Morocco takes the opportunity to affirm, on the occasion of the extension of the mandate of the MINURSO for one year, its sincere commitment to the hoped-for substantive negotiations and reasserts its support for the efforts of the Secretary General and his Personal Envoy ambassador Christopher Ross to reach a political solution, within the framework of the indispensable compromise, and based on the Moroccan autonomy Initiative for the negotiation of an autonomy statute for the Sahara region,” the statement concluded.

Source: MAP
News and events concerning Western Sahara issue/ Corcas