Webinar Western Sahara: Where is the UN?

The conflict about Western Sahara has escalated since the 13th of November, when the 29 year long ceasefire between Morocco and Polisario was broken.
We are now witnessing a military escalation of the conflict as Polisario has declared the long standing “no peace no war” situation over and a new war has begun. This marks an end to decades of political efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation with respect for the ceasefire agreement and the MINURSO mandate from 1991.
But where does all this leave the UN which initially brokered the ceasefire and has had as its mandate to monitor the ceasefire and to organize the long awaited referendum that should decide the future status of Western Sahara? What is the role of the UN and what responsibility does it bear? How do we see the situation develop within the next weeks and months? And what is the future of MINURSO?
Speaker: Kurt Mosgaard, Major General and former Force Commander for the UN mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO)
Interviewer: Esben Andersen
Join us for an insightful discussion about the UN’s role in one of the longest standing conflicts in Africa. In the light of December 10th being the UN Day of Human Rights, we find it timely to highlight the human rights perspective of the Western Sahara conflict and to stress the need of a human rights monitoring mandate as part of the MINURSO mandate.

About Western Sahara:
The UN considers Western Sahara a “disputed territory” that still awaits decolonization. Until 1975 Western Sahara was a Spanish colony. In that year, the territory was invaded from the South by Mauretania and from the North by Morocco in what is known as The Green March. In 1979 Mauretania withdrew after military fights against the Polisario, the Saharawi Liberation Movement, led by the indigenous population of Western Sahara. During the 16 years of war, thousands of Saharawis fled to neighbouring Algeria to settle in refugee camps where up to 190.000 people still live to this day. A ceasefire was brokered by the UN in 1991 on the premise that a referendum for self-determination should be held. This has still yet to happen. Today, Western Sahara remains Africa’s last colony and is still under Moroccan occupation. Following a few weeks of a peaceful, civil blockade by Saharawis of a road connecting Mauretania and occupied Western Sahara and a Moroccan military presence in the demilitarized buffer zone, Polisario declared the ceasefire of 1991 violated and consequently the conflict has become armed again.

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