UN demands restoration of Western Sahara mission

UNITED NATIONS — In a divisive vote, the UN Security Council on Friday extended for a year a peacekeeping mission in disputed Western Sahara and demanded urgent restoration of its full functionality after Morocco expelled international civilian staff.

Rabat's retaliation against the mission, known as MINURSO, came after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon referred to Morocco's 1975 annexation of Western Sahara after colonial power Spain's withdrawal as an "occupation". The UN has said the expulsions have crippled the mission.

The US-drafted resolution asked Ban to report back within 90 days on whether the mission's functionality had been restored. It does not threaten any punitive measures against Morocco if the mission remains understaffed.

Several council members said the resolution should have gone further in demanding the restoration of MINURSO's full strength.

Highlighting the disappointment at its contents, the text received 10 yes votes, just one more than the required minimum, along with two against and three abstentions. Venezuela and Uruguay opposed it, while Russia, New Zealand and Angola abstained.

"It should not have been like this," New Zealand's UN Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen told the 15-nation council. "The resolution should have stated the reality, that the expulsion of the civilian component has seriously compromised the mission and its ability to discharge its mandate."

A split vote on a mandate renewal for a peacekeeping mission is rare. Mission mandates are usually approved unanimously.

US Ambassador Samantha Power said the weeks of haggling over the wording of the resolution on MINURSO's extension, one of the council's most heated annual battles, was even more difficult this time.

"This year's mandate renewal was challenging and contentious," she said. "That is an understatement."

Moroccan UN Ambassador Omar Hilale said Morocco would study the resolution. He did not address reporters' questions about whether Rabat will accept restoration of full civilian staffing levels.

"The important thing for us is that the military component should work well and we have already committed ourselves to provide them with all their needs," he said.

The Sahrawi people's Polisario Front independence movement wants a referendum on the idea of an independent Western Sahara. Morocco has said it would only grant autonomy. While the resolution does not explicitly call for a referendum, it "reaffirms" previous resolutions calling for a plebiscite.

Polisario's UN representative Ahmed Boukhari said the resolution was a "step in the right direction but it is not enough". He blamed veto power France for preventing the council from threatening punitive measures against Morocco if it refused to let MINURSO restore full staffing.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the resolution was balanced.

The controversy over Ban's "occupation" comment, made during a visit to refugee camps for Sahrawi people in southern Algeria, is the worst dispute between the United Nations and Morocco since 1991, when the international body brokered a ceasefire to end a war between Rabat and rebels fighting for independence in Western Sahara. MINURSO was established at that time.