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African Union Union Africaine União Africana 0 AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, P.O. Box: 3243 Tel.: (251-11) 5513 822 Fax: (251-11) 5519 321 Email: [email protected] PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL 668th MEETING ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA 20 MARCH 2015 PSC/PR/2.(DCLXVIII) REPORT OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE COMMISSION ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE PEACE PROCESS IN WESTERN SAHARA AND OTHER RELATED ISSUES PSC/PR/2.(DCLXVIII) Page 1 REPORT OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE COMMISSION ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE PEACE PROCESS IN WESTERN SAHARA AND OTHER RELATED ISSUES I. INTRODUCTION 1. This report is submitted in pursuance of the relevant decisions of both the Executive Council and the Assembly of the Union, requesting me to pursue my efforts with respect to the search for a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara and to provide regular updates on the evolution of the situation. II. BACKGROUND 2. The question of the unfinished task of the decolonization of Western Sahara and the current stalemate in the peace process has been of utmost concern to the AU, which has remained engaged in the diplomatic and political efforts at the continental and international level, in order to secure its peaceful resolution, in full compliance with the principles enshrined in the AU instruments and in the UN Charter. 3. The dispute over the non-self-governing Territory of Western Sahara is among the oldest on the agenda of the United Nations. Since 1963, the Territory has been inscribed on the list of non-self-governing territories to which UN General Assembly resolution 1514(XV) of 14 December 1960 on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples applies. To this day, Western Sahara is on the UN list of the remaining 16 dependent territories which are yet to exercise their right to self-determination, and the only one on the African continent. 4. Efforts towards the search for a solution to the problem have proceeded in the past, in some form or another, ever since the UN, in mid-1970s, had called on Spain, as the Administering Power, to organize a referendum of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. The challenge brought forth at the time by the Moroccan claim subsequently led to the occupation of the Territory by the latter, in spite of the Advisory Opinion rendered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 16 October 1975, affirming that it had not found legal ties of such a nature between Western Sahara and the concerned neighboring countries that might affect the application of resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960 and, in particular, of the principle of self-determination through a free and genuine expression of the will of the people of the Territory. This led to a 16-year long armed struggle against Moroccan occupation of the Territory by the armed forces of the POLISARIO Front. 5. In August 1988, the Parties accepted the Settlement Proposals presented to them by the UN and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), on the basis of the Peace Plan adopted by the 19th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 6 to 12 June 1983. The objective was to enable the people of Western Sahara to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. On 29 April 1991, the UN Security Council, in resolution 690 (1991), established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) with the mandate, to organize and conduct the referendum, in close cooperation with the OAU. PSC/PR/2.(DCLXVIII) Page 2 6. Over the last four decades, the OAU/AU has made numerous calls to the international community and initiated efforts to resolve the Sahrawi crisis. The AU’s efforts are within its mandate as Guarantor of the Peace Plan endorsed in resolution of Assembly of Heads of State and Government (AHG/Res.104 (XIX)) of the 19th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the OAU, held in Addis Ababa from 6 to 12 June 1983, which essentially served as the basis of the August 1988 Settlement Proposals that set into motion the peace process for Western Sahara and as also endorsed by the UN Security Council in April 1991. 7. To date, the Settlement Proposals remain the only Agreement ever accepted by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front towards the peaceful resolution of the dispute over Western Sahara. While the ceasefire component of the Plan, agreed to by the two sides on 6 September 1991, still holds, no progress was made regarding the holding of the envisaged referendum of self-determination. Albeit the efforts deployed by successive UN Secretaries- General and their Personal Envoys, the direct negotiations between the two parties initiated under the Manhasset process (Manhasset, New York) in 2007-2008 remain in continued stalemate. III. RECENT EVOLUTION OF THE PEACE PROCESS 8. Despite sustained efforts of the UN Secretary-General and the calls by the UN Security Council and the African Union Policy Organs for the two parties to resume direct and serious negotiations, without preconditions, for the definitive resolution of the conflict, no progress has been made in the peace process and the deadlock still remains. The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Western Sahara, Ambassador Christopher Ross, was unable to engage the parties due to the preconditions posed by Morocco to resume talks, namely the acceptance of the autonomy plan by Front Polisario it put forward in 2007, as the only basis for negotiations. 9. Information has also emerged, over the last couple of weeks that the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, since January 2009, has submitted his resignation – a development that cannot but be a further complication to the peace process, given what it might require to get the mediation back on track. 10. On 11 August 2016, Morocco forces crossed the berm of the buffer strip in south-west Western Sahara, in El-Guergarat, in contravention of the 1991 Ceasefire Agreement. This action of Morocco prompted the deployment of military forces by the POLISARIO Front, to the area. Morocco’s action was widely condemned by the AU and the wider international community, but the UN Security Council failed to address this matter in a way it should have been, as a result of divisions within it. I urged both parties to fully respect the Military Agreement Number 1 and to immediately end any violation to the 1991 Ceasefire Agreement, as well as to work in good faith and without preconditions, to create the necessary environment for resumption of talks and the early holding of the referendum for self-determination of the Saharawi people consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the resolutions and decisions of UN and AU. In that connection, Morocco announced, on 27 February 2017, that it has unilaterally withdrawn from El-Guergarat, in response to the request of the UN Secretary General, while the POLISARIO Front, for its part, having described the Moroccan withdrawal of its forces for some meters, as a diversionary maneuver to hide its military occupation of Western Sahara and stated that its forces shall remain in the El-Guergarat region. PSC/PR/2.(DCLXVIII) Page 3 IV. UNITED NATIONS MISSION FOR THE REFEREUNDUM IN WESTERN SAHARA 11. MINURSO was established by resolution 690 (1991), following the acceptance by the two Parties of the OAU/UN Settlement Plan and its subsequent endorsement by the UN Security Council with the mandate to oversee the Ceasefire Agreement and organize the self- determination referendum for the People of Western Sahara. 12. On 16 March 2016, Morocco transmitted to the UN Secretary General a list of 84 international civilian personnel of MINURSO and the AU which it ordered to leave the Territory within three days. On 20 March 2016, all listed personnel left Western Sahara including the three Officers of the AU Observer Delegation. 13. On 29 April 2016, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2285, which extended the mandate of MINURSO until 30 April 2017 and emphasized the urgent need for MINURSO to return to full functionality. The UN Security Council also requested the Secretary-General to brief the Council within 90 days as to whether MINURSO would return to full functionality. The Council further expressed its intention, if MINURSO have not achieved full functionality, to consider how best to facilitate achievement of this goal. So far, only 25 officials were reported to have returned to Laayoune in implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 2285 (2016) on the return of MINURSO to Full Functionality. V. ROLE OF THE AU OFFICE IN WESTERN SAHARA 14. The OAU/AU Office in Western Sahara was established following the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 690 (1991), endorsing the UN/OAU Settlement Plan and authorizing the establishment of MINURSO. The resolution had mandated the implementation of the Settlement Plan to be in cooperation with the OAU. At the time when MINURSO was engaged on the identification of potential Sahrawi voters for the planned referendum, OAU/AU observers and observers from over ten OAU Members States participated in the exercise, to ensure the integrity of the identification process undertaken to determine eligibility of the applicants. 15. Since then, the AU Office, which is headed by my Special Representative, Ambassador Yilma Tadesse, of Ethiopia, and located in the MINURSO premises, has continued to provide regular updates on the situation. On the ground, the Special Representative maintains close consultations with MINURSO. He also undertakes consultations with both Parties, Morocco and the POLISARIO Front.
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