U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gestures during a news conference at the
Conference on the Prevention of Violent Extremism at the United Nations
in Geneva, Switzerland, April 8, 2016.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended extending the mandate of a peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara for a year, warning that the conflict there was in danger of reigniting, according to a new report.
"The
risk of a rupture of the ceasefire and a resumption of hostilities,
with its attendant danger of escalation into full-scale war, will grow
significantly in the event that MINURSO is forced to depart or finds
itself unable to execute the mandate that the Security Council has set," Ban said in the report, which was seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Morocco
expelled dozens of U.N. staff from the mission in Western Sahara, known
as MINURSO, after Ban last month referred to the North African nation's
1975 annexation of the region from Spain as an "occupation."
Morocco has said its decisions were irreversible but that it was still committed to peace.
In
his annual report to the U.N. Security Council, Ban urged the 15-nation
body to ensure the resumption of full operations of MINURSO, which has
been crippled by the staff reduction and closure of a military liaison
office.
He said the resulting vacuum "can be expected to be exploited by terrorist and radical elements."
"I
call on the Security Council to restore and support the mandated role
of MINURSO, uphold peacekeeping standards and the impartiality of the
United Nations, and, most importantly, avoid setting a precedent for
United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world," he said.
The Security Council is scheduled to vote next week on whether to renew MINURSO's mandate.
The
controversy over Ban's "occupation" comment, made during a visit to
refugee camps for Sahrawi people, is the worst dispute between the U.N.
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.
The
Sahrawis' Polisario Front separatist movement wants a referendum on
independence, but Morocco says it will only grant autonomy.
The
U.N. mission had nearly 500 military and civilian personnel before the
recent staff reduction. Morocco also has canceled some $3 million in
support for the mission.
"The military
component will struggle to maintain its monitoring of the ceasefire
given its reliance on civilian capabilities and technical functions for
sustainability," Ban said.
"Other key
tasks and standard peacekeeping functions, such as assessments of and
reporting on local conditions that may affect the mission's operations
and the political process, have been discontinued," he added.
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