New York, 24/04/2015 (SPS).- Ban's latest annual report on Western Sahara "has been negotiated with Morocco », said on Thursday Ahmed Boukhari, Front Polisario’s representative to the United Nations, reported Asspociated Press.
Talking about the January phone call between Ban and Morocco's King Mohammed VI, Boukhari said Ban's latest annual report on Western Sahara "has been negotiated with Morocco ».
According to AP, the U.N. special envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, had not been allowed to visit for months, until that phone call. "I confirmed that reports to the (Security) Council will remain objective and reflect facts," Ban's latest report says of the conversation with the king. "In reply, the king confirmed that Morocco welcomed the return of my personal envoy."
« The group pushing to resolve what's been called Africa's last remnant of a colonial past is accusing the U.N. chief of trading away a tougher stance on Western Sahara during a recent phone call with Morocco's king », added the same source, highlighting that « Western Sahara has the U.N.'s only peacekeeping force without a mandate to monitor human rights, while human rights group say Morocco uses violence to stifle dissent ».
The Security Council next week is expected to vote on a resolution extending the U.N. mission. The draft obtained by The Associated Press has no mention of adding human rights monitoring, AP concluded. SPS