Addis Ababa, 9 April 2016 (SPS) - The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU), at its 588th meeting held on 6 April 2016, adopted a decision on the situation in Western Sahara, which calls on the UN Security Council to fully assume its responsibility in the matter, by acting under Chapter VII, to demand Morocco to annul its decision to expel MINURSO personnel.
Furthermore, Council urges the UN Security Council to reaffirm the full mandate of MINURSO, including the organization of Referendum for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara and stresses the need for the international community as a whole, to continue to provide support to the ongoing efforts by UN Secretary-General, Ban-Ki Moon, and his Personal Envoy, Christopher W. S. Ross, towards materializing the solution to the conflict in accordance with international legality.
It Looks forward to the renewal of the mandate of MINURSO at the expiration of its current mandate, on 30 April 2016, as decided by the Security Council in resolution 2218 (2015) of 28 April 2015. Council urges the UN Security Council to take the necessary steps to provide MINURSO with a human rights mandate, taking into account the need to ensure sustained, independent and impartial monitoring of human rights in both the Territory and the refugee camps. In this respect, Council requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to take appropriate steps in this respect.
Council further reiterates its request to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to undertake, as soon as possible, a mission to Western Sahara and to the refugee camps in Tindouf, to assess the human rights situation and make recommendations to Council. In this regard, Council urges the Government of Morocco to extend full cooperation to the ACHPR, in particular, by allowing it to access the Territory.
It Notes with deep concern the acute humanitarian situation in which the people of Western Sahara are living, the violation of human rights and the continuous illegal exploitation of the territory’s natural resources, regardless of the relevant multiple opinions and decisions of the AU, as well as of international and regional organizations, on the matter.
Council reiterates its decision PSC/PR/COMM/1.(CDXCVI) it adopted at its 496th meeting held on 27 March 2015, to establish an International Contact Group for Western Sahara (ICG-WS), in order to keep the issue on the international agenda and to mobilize the necessary support for the early resolution of the conflict, as well as to reactivate the Ad hoc Committee of Heads of State and Government on the conflict in Western Sahara, established pursuant to resolution AHG/Res.92(XV), adopted at the 15th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU, held in Khartoum, Sudan, from 18 to 22 July 1978. (SPS)
062/090