chargement...
The MINURSO, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara established by Security Council 690 resolution on the 29th of April in 1991, has got a new organizational chart. The latter was initiated on the 1st of September of the current year by Gilles Brière, chief of the UN Mission Support. Kim Buldoc, whose departure from MINURSO will probably be announced in the coming weeks, has not contributed to the development of this restructuring.
All the units of the UN mission have undergone changes including the military component. «Now the command is assured by two generals. It is a first», says a source from the Sahara. «Beside the Chinese general Wang Xiaojun, appointed by Ban Ki-Moon in December 2016, a Swedish should also assume the same functions», the source added.
It is very early to be able to decipher the reasons behind these changes. This could be due to the increased number of MINURSO soldiers' interventions, especially after the setup of a 6th team site in the Guerguerate buffer zone. It may also be linked to the alleged terrorist threats targeting the mission operating now in the Western Sahara and in the Tindouf camps.
Tension
It is clear that the new organizational chart has been introduced at the wrong time to manage the MINURSO. «The new personal envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara has not yet established contact with the mission’s hierarchy. Since his appointment, Horst Köhler works without consulting Kim Buldoc», indicates the same source.
The marginalization has created tension at the MINURSO’s headquarters in Laayoune. During the eight years that Christopher Ross spent in office, the American UN senior official maintained constant contact with the chief of the mission. He even continued to ask for information even when he submitted his resignation to Antonio Guterres.
This sidelining could be seen as a message sent by Köhler to the MINURSO leadership in order to respect the neutrality principles in the territorial dispute. As a reminder, relations between Morocco and the former leader (German Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber) and his successor Mrs Buldoc remained cold.
