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UN requests Morocco to comply with int'l legal obligations

Xinhua, March 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Nations "strongly requests the government of Morocco to comply immediately with its international legal obligations" after Rabat ordered the withdrawal of international staff from the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), a UN spokesman said here Wednesday.

The United Nations had sent a note verbale to Morocco's UN permanent representative, in reply to the note verbale sent by the government of Morocco on March 16, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

"The note made clear that the secretary-general is deeply concerned that the recent actions taken by the government of Morocco are contrary to Morocco's legal obligations as agreed under the Status of Mission Agreement" for the MINURSO, Haq said.

That agreement includes a legal obligation for Morocco to ensure that the members of MINURSO "shall whenever so required by the SRSG have the right to enter into, reside in and depart from the Mission area."

The United Nations has further downsized its mission in Western Sahara by closing a military liaison office at the request of the Moroccan government after recently pulling international civilian personnel out of the UN mission.

Three military observers stationed at the MINURSO liaison office in Dakhla were relocated on Monday to a site which is in a part of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco, Haq said on Tuesday.

The Moroccan government has requested the downsizing of MINURSO to express its discontent with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's use of the word "occupation" during a recent visit to the region.

The Moroccan government's support for the UN mission deteriorated in response to Ban's use of the word during his first visit earlier this month to refugee camps in Algeria for the Sahrawis, as the region's native inhabitants are known.

The UN Security Council established the MINURSO in 1991.

The territory of Western Sahara has been contested by Morocco, Mauritania and the Frente Polisario, supported by Algeria, since colonial power Spain withdrew in 1976. Enditem