Morocco denounces biased UN report on Moroccan Sahara

Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Omar Hilale, has formally objected to what he describes as a biased paragraph in the latest Security Council report to the UN General Assembly concerning the Moroccan Sahara. In a letter addressed to the Security Council president and its members, Hilale expressed Morocco’s strong rejection of the report’s framing of the Moroccan Sahara issue, particularly its singling out of two parties.

Hilale highlighted that the report’s introduction specifies that the section on Moroccan Sahara is intended to offer a brief overview of developments not a comprehensive account. However, the paragraph in question deviates from this intent, presenting a skewed and partisan interpretation that does not reflect the Council’s consensus or its balanced efforts to promote a just and lasting political solution.

According to Hilale, the paragraph only represents the personal view of its drafter and that of a non-permanent Council member, ignoring the broader and more nuanced positions of other members. He emphasized that this approach misrepresents the Security Council’s practice, which since 2018 has consistently referenced the four involved parties: Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and the Polisario Front.

Hilale further pointed out that neither the UN Secretary-General’s reports nor General Assembly resolutions have ever reduced the matter to just two parties. This selective narrative, he said, contradicts the prevailing international momentum, which supports Morocco’s Autonomy Initiative as a serious and credible framework for resolving the dispute, in line with the Kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Currently, 116 countries endorse this proposal, including two permanent and several non-permanent Security Council members.

The ambassador warned that abandoning neutrality and factual rigor undermines the credibility of the Security Council’s reports and raises questions about the General Assembly’s trust in such documents. He called on the report’s author to adhere to the Council’s established principles neutrality, objectivity, and recognition of the four parties involved and the Moroccan autonomy plan.

Finally, Hilale announced that the letter has also been submitted to the President of the General Assembly and the UN Secretary-General. It will be published as an official document of both the Security Council and the General Assembly.