Morocco Welcomes UNSC Resolution 2414 Renewing MINURSO Mandate

Morocco welcomed resolution 2414 by the UN security council renewing the mandate of the MINURSO for six months and urging the polisairo to withdraw from the buffer strip, said Morocco’s Ambassador Omar Hilale.

“The Security Council resolution strengthens Morocco’s position and resolve in responding to recent Polisario provocations east of the security wall and in the buffer strip in Guerguarat,” Hilale told the press in New York after the adoption of the resolution.

The Security Council was uncompromising in condemning Polisario’s ceasefire violations and urged the Algerian-backed militia to “immediately withdraw” from the buffer strip in Guerguarat, he said.

The Resolution also rebukes the Polisario for attempting to move administrative functions from its rear-base in Tindouf (southwestern Algeria) to Bir Lahlou, east of Morocco’s security wall, he said adding that such maneuvers were described by the Security Council as “destabilizing actions.”

“The Security council rejected in the strongest terms the attempts by the Polisario to alter reality on the ground,” the diplomat said, adding that the Security Council deemed Polisario irresponsible actions as “a violation of the ceasefire agreement and a serious threat to the political process which UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy Horst Kohler is trying to launch.”

Following this resolution, Polisario separatists were dealt a blow, he said. “Now either they obey to the Security Council calls or they assume the serious repercussions that may result from their illegal actions,” said the Moroccan Ambassador.

Hilale added that the Security Council recognized the Kingdom’s restraint and “measured response” to the Polisario provocations. “This clearly testifies to the degree of responsibility shown by Morocco in recent weeks,” and “shows the trust that the international community has in the far-sighted leadership of HM the King.”

Morocco also welcomes the fact that the resolution calls on Algeria to contribute towards achieving a political solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara, Hilale said.

In Rabat, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita hailed the content of the resolution as “positive” saying that it is “the fruit of the firm and decisive action of King Mohammed VI to counter all insidious attempts aimed at harming the Kingdom’s higher interests”.
He said the positive content of the resolution is also “the result of the strong mobilization, under the leadership of H.M. the King, of Moroccan diplomacy and all the forces of the nation to defend the territorial integrity and national unity”.
Bourita underlined that the resolution is adopted in a context marked by the will of the international community to relaunch the political process under the leadership of the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy, Horst Köhler, on the basis of a new dynamic and a new spirit, while drawing lessons learned and constraints encountered in the past”.