Security Council rejects UN project in Western Sahara

The UN Security Council has voted by a majority against the international organisation’s proposal for a road construction project across the Saharan territories contested by the Polisario Front. Supported by France and Senegal, the proposed project would result in a 3.8 kilometre road linking the El Guergarat buffer-zone to the Mauritanian border; the Security Council believes that it would violate the ceasefire agreement.

“The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was not created to build roads but to prepare a referendum for the Saharawi people,” said Venezuelan representative Rafael Ramirez, who rejected the proposal.

The Polisario Front itself blasted the proposal, accusing the UN of becoming a corporation that will “finance projects in Morocco”. In a letter addressed to the president of the Security Council, the Polisario representative to the UN, Ahmed Boukhari, mentioned his “surprise” at the UN’s position and accused it of ignoring “its own earlier decisions on the project.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon refused to comment.

The tense security situation in the El Guergarat buffer-zone requires both sides to maintain a distance of 120 metres from each other to avoid “a resumption of hostilities with potential regional implications.” Last month, in a confidential memo forwarded to the Security Council by the Secretary General, Morocco was reported to have violated the agreement by deploying security forces in the area without prior notice to MINURSO.

The President of the African Union Commission (AU), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urged both sides to create the necessary environment for the resumption of negotiations and self-determination of the Saharawi people “consistent with the principles of the UN Charter and the decisions of the UN and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).”