As UN Council Meets on W. Sahara, Ill Haidar Is Freed, Inner City Press Told by Sources

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
www.innercitypress.com/un6wsahara121709.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 17, updated -- As the UN Security Council kept the request for a briefing on Western Sahara in the shadows on Thursday, word reached Inner City Press that seriously ill hunger striker Aminatou Haidar is being released and will return to Western Sahara. "It's good news," the well placed diplomatic source told Inner City Press.

Moments later, a Security Council ambassador emerging from the closed door consultations told Inner City Press of a cable from Spain, that the plane has left.

Asked if the Council will continue to consider the request for a briefing, the source said yes. But several non-permanent Council members told Inner City Press that "Costa Rica doesn't have nine votes" in favor of its request, if it called for a procedural vote.

Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, as she stood at the Council stakeout microphone, for the U.S. position on whether the Council should have a briefing on Western Sahara. Ambassador Rice walked away from the microphone, the question hanging in the air. "You have your answer," another correspondent told Inner City Press. A request to Mission staff on Wednesday likewise yielded no answer. Watch this site.

Update: as the Council consultations got out, an Ambassador who favored a briefing on Western Sahara said there will now be one. "When they can't defeat you, they go along," he said. The French Ambassador Gerard Araud is said to have adamantly opposed the briefing -- but lost. Of course, the decision came after Ms. Haidar was freed. Inner City Press is told she is returning to Western Sahara on a Spanish plane, with her doctor and sister.

The U.S. said it was at a "sensitive" moment, and asked for delay. Three days or so, although it's left up to the Burkina Faso presidency. Before the end of the year -- when Burkina Faso leaves the presidency, and the Council...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un6wsahara121709.html

Western Sahara and Aminatou Haidar's Failing Kidneys in UN Half Light Limbo, Of Embassies

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un5wsahara121609.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 16 -- Through the half light outside the UN Security Council, Morocco's Ambassador Mohammed Loulichki passed on Wednesday afternoon. Inner City Press asked him, "How about a briefing?" The reference was to the request, first made by Costa Rica, supported by Uganda, Austria and to varying degrees others, for a briefing on Western Sahara in light of the extended hunger strike of human rights activist Aminatou Haidar.

"There is no need for a briefing," Morocco's Ambassador replied. "Everyone knows everything in the UN... transparency."

Further inquiry by Inner City Press finds that after Costa Rica made its proposal, and even suggested it would call for a vote, Mexico stepped forward for its own reasons with a compromise proposal, that this month's Council president Michel Kafando of Burkina Faso "reach out" to Morocco, the Frente Polisario and envoy Christopher Ross.

The first two visited with Kafando on Wednesday, with the Frente Polisario presenting a letter among other things urging "the Members of the UNSC to immediately intervene to avoid a tragic end which will haunt forever the peace process."

Ms. Haidar, according to an Inner City Press source who viewed a text message she sent on Wednesday, is suffering nausea and pain in his kidneys.

Christopher Ross, UN sources tell Inner City Press, is in California on family business.

Ban Ki-moon, who met without success with Morocco's foreign minister asking for some humanitarian move, was in Copenhagen, speaking

We have more, as well, on Mexico's position, on which we reported yesterday. The Frente Polisario maintains an embassy in Mexico, despite Moroccan pressure to close it.

Perhaps due to language as well as historical leftist and anti-colonial ties, Polisario is on the move in Latin America, opening embassies in Panama and Uruguay. Meanwhile, it had to close its embassy in Kenya, due it is said to pressure not only from Morocco but also Saudi Arabia.

To return full circle to Wednesday afternoon's meeting, Burkina Faso was part of a move, driven by Morocco and France, to ejected Western Sahara from the African Union. It didn't work, but it happened.

The second of the Burkina Faso presidency's two meetings ended with two options on the horseshoe table: no briefing, as urged by Morocco, or a briefing about Ms. Haidar and the wider situation. How would the choice be made between the two, and what role would be played by France, which in other circumstances has demanded briefings about Myanmar human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un5wsahara121609.html

As Western Sahara's Aminatou Haidar Starves, Mexican Diplomats Call It Sensitive -- For Them

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un4wsahara121609.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 16 -- A day after this month's UN Security Council president ducked the Press after consultations on Western Sahara and the hunger strike of Aminatou Haidar, Inner City Press on Tuesday got him on camera explaining what took place. Through a translator, Ambassador Michel Kafando of Burkina Faso said that while some members want a briefing on Western Sahara, others oppose it. As a compromise, he is reaching out to UN envoy Christopher Ross, who is traveling to New York. Video here.

Afterwards, Inner City Press asked Mexico's Ambassador Claude Heller for his country's position on the briefing. We have to be cautious, Heller said. As such, his position differed from that of Costa Rica, Uganda and Austria, which have requested the briefing.

Subsequent reporting by Inner City Press gleans that Western Sahara is an issue for opposition parties in Mexico. It's not so much that the Frente Polisario has a crack diplomatic corps overseas. Rather, the issue of independence for Western Sahara is iconic for the Left. Hugo Chavez has spoken on the issue; that Cuba supports the Frente goes without saying.

So governments like Mexico's, by no means the worst in this regard, just want to stay out of the cross hairs. When they call the Western Sahara issue "sensitive," they are not referring to the dynamic between the parties, but rather to their own domestic politics.

Lost in all this is that the people of Western Sahara were promised a referendum on independence, under UN administration. The promise has been broken. And the stink will not go away.

Footnote: Earlier this year, while Mexico initially raised in the Security Council Sri Lanka's "bloodbath on the beach," after Sri Lanka made reference to the "sensitive, internal" matter of Chiapas, Mexico in fact gave some assurances to the Sri Lankan government that it would modify its position. This is how the Security Council works, or doesn't. This is how and why the members make decisions.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4wsahara121609.html

Spain's UN Advocacy for Ms. Haidar is Off the Record, ASSK Compared

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2wsahara120109.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 1 -- While Spain said it has lobbied and written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on behalf of Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar, Tuesday at noon the UN said it had not received any letter. Inner City Press asked Spain's Ambassador to the UN Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo, Tuesday night at a reception for Thailand's national day, to explain what Spain has done for Ms. Haidar.

"No voy a comentar sobre eso ahora mismo," he replied. "I am not going to comment on that right now."

Inner City Press told him that the Secretariat says it has received no request from Spain. "Estamos en contacto con la oficina del S-G," he said. "We are in contact with the Secretary General's office."

Meanwhile, Inner City Press has been told by a European member of the UN Security Council which met with Ms. Haidar and then UN mediator Christopher Ross that Morocco demanded to know about the first meeting, during which Ms. Haidar predicted she'd be arrested.

Why has Ross been so silent? The European member of the Security Council said that Ross is cautious, and does not want to jeopardize the "whole process for one individual."

Inner City Press asked, and asks, what is the different because Ms. Haidar and Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2wsahara120109.html

As Morocco Expels Western Sahara Activist, Silence at the UN

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1wsahara111709.html

UNITED NATIONS, November 17 -- Given the UN's role in Western Sahara, one might expect the Organization to have at least some comment when Morocco expels a noted human rights activist like Aminatou Haidar. But on November 17, Inner City Press asked both the Associate Spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon and this month's Security Council president about the expulsion, and neither had anything to say.

The UN's Farhan Haq said only, "we'll check with MINURSO," the UN Mission there. Video here, from Minute 13:05. But what of Christopher Ross, Ban Ki-moon's envoy on the issue? What of the Secretary General himself?

Austrian Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, as Council president, said that "the issue has not been raised by anyone in the Council." Video here, from Minute 5:01.

Some have noted in the Obama Administration a praising of Morocco's human rights record that may have emboldened and enable the expulsion. France, of course, is a major supporter of Morocco. With South Africa off the Council, no one is raising it. One wonders what incoming Council member Nigeria's position will be.

Mayr-Harting went out to refer to "an informal meeting in Austria some time ago." But what about the imprisonment of Polisario leaders, and the expulsion of Aminatou Haidar? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1wsahara111709.html