UN Security Council resolution 1754

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The Resolution 1754 of the UN Security Council is a resolution on the situation in Western Sahara , which the United Nations Security Council has adopted unanimously at its 5669th meeting on 30 April, 2007. The resolution called on Morocco and the Polisario Front to enter into mutual negotiations without preconditions. In addition, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was extended to October 31, 2007.

With this resolution, the Security Council is recalling all previous resolutions on the issue and expressing its support for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his personal envoy. He stressed his determination to help both sides solve the problem and called for full cooperation with the United Nations.

Taking into account the report of the UN Secretary General of April 13, 2007, the Security Council decided,

  1. that compliance with the military agreements reached with MINURSO regarding the ceasefire is essential;
  2. both sides should open negotiations without reservation in order to achieve a lasting, just and mutually acceptable political solution to the problem in Western Sahara;
  3. that the UN Secretary-General should take the lead in these negotiations;
  4. the latter should report on the progress made by 30 June;
  5. before the end of MINURSO's mandate, the latter has to submit a report on the situation in Western Sahara;
  6. to call on the member states for voluntary financial aid for confidence-building measures, in particular family reunification;
  7. to instruct the Secretary General to ensure a zero tolerance policy with regard to sexual abuse within the framework of MINURSO ;
  8. to extend MINURSO's mandate until October 31, 2007 and
  9. wanting to continue to actively deal with the problem.

According to the report of the UN Secretary General, Muhammad Abdelaziz , the Secretary General of the Polisario, had sent Ban Ki-moon a document on March 8, 2007 , in which the problem of Western Sahara was described as one of decolonization and that a referendum had to be held for this reason . In a note dated March 19, 2007, the President of Algeria also informed the UN Secretary General that the United Nations had to fulfill its obligation towards the people of Western Sahara to conclude the decolonization process with a referendum. The personal envoy of the Secretary General, Peter van Walsum , had pointed out to Ban Ki-moon that when the Security Council took its last decision on Western Sahara on October 31, 2006 , it had simply not rejected or accepted the recommendations of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan failed to act on this. In van Walsum's opinion, there are only two options with regard to Western Sahara, namely an indefinite continuation of the standstill or negotiations without preconditions between the two sides. The neighboring states of Mauritania and Algeria should be invited to take part in these negotiations and should be heard on the specific issues that concern them.

Despite the unanimous approval, the representatives of South Africa criticized the resolution text before the vote ; this was sent to the council members less than 24 hours before the vote, so that there was hardly any time to improve the text, the wording of which his country considers to be unbalanced on two points.

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