Morocco maintains its reservations concerning the new candidate nominated to head the MINURSO

As previously announced, the United Nations Secretary-General has nominated, Colin Stewart of Canada to replace his fellow citizen, Kim Bolduc who was previously head of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

However, «Morocco still maintains its reservations concerning Antonio Guterres’ proposal», a source close to the file told Yabiladi. A position similar to the one the kingdom adopted when both Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber and Kim Buldoc were nominated to lead the mission in Western Sahara.

«Rabat is not interested in directly confronting Antonia Guterres, knowing that the Portuguese Secretary-General has broken up with the political approach adopted in the past by his predecessor Ban Ki-moon. When the negotiation process is over, Morocco will have to accept this appointment».

Serving in East Timor and South Sudan

The same source explained that «the kingdom has scored points in the Security Council, questioning the criteria put to appoint some UN officials who end up heading the UN mission in the Sahara, especially those who led to the East Timor independence referendum (August 30, 1999) or served in South Sudan (January 2011)».

Indeed, Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber who was appointed as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the MINURSO in June 2012, has worked in the past for the United Nations Integrated Mission in East Timor (UMIT). Colin Stewart, the new candidate proposed by Guterres, also worked for the UN in the Political Affairs Division from 1999 to 2009 as an «analyst manager» in East Timor and Indonesia. An experience that paved the way for him later and allowed him to be named, from January 2011 to March 2016, Deputy Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU).

During his term at the MINURSO (June 15, 2012 to July 31, 2014), Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber has never visited Rabat compared to Buldoc who did only once. On the other hand, they both visited the Tindouf camps for several times. Will Colin Stewart follow the same path ?

For the record, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General at the time, put an end on January the 17th 2002 to the Commission set to identify eligible voters for the referendum in Western Sahara. As a result, from 1993 to December 1999, only 2,130 people were entitled to vote out of a list that had 51,220 applicants.