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MINURSO ready to implement Security Council resolutions on self-determination right of Saharawi people, confirms UN Official

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Shaheed Al Hafed (refugee camps), April 28, 2012 (SPS) - The Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara, Mr. Hany Abdel-Aziz, emphasized Saturday that the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) “is ready to accelerate the implementation of Security Council resolutions that provides for the self-determination of the Saharawi people,” in a meeting with the President of the Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, before the end of his duties to the region.

“The UN Mission is ready to implement resolutions of the Security Council that provides for the right of self-determination of the Saharawi people,” Mr. Abdel-Aziz told the press following the meeting.

Responding to a question about a component to monitor and report on human rights within MINURSO mandate, the UN Official held Security Council responsible, saying “Security Council decides and we implement.”

He also delivered his greetings to the Saharawi people, who struggle for freedom and self-determination, requesting at the end of his duties from the Polisario Front the permission to leave.

The UN Envoy met with officials in the Saharawi State and POLISARIO leadership including prime and defense minister, Speaker of the Saharawi National Council and some Saharawi personalities. He also visited some institutions in the Wilaya of Smara, before he stood at tomb of the deceased Mahfud Ali Beiba.

Mr. Hany Abdel-Aziz was appointed as a personal envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara and chief of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (known as MINURSO) on October 2009. He has also worked in administrative posts for the UN in Sudan, Central African Republic, Lebanon, Iraq, Burundi as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. (SPS)

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