On
W. Sahara, EU
Finally
Speaks,
Morocco Dodges
Resources,
of Kashmir, UK
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 10 --
After a series
of ritualized
speeches on
the
topic of
Western
Sahara, long
promised by
the UN a
referendum on
independence
which has
never taken
place, a vague
resolution was
adopted on
Monday,
Columbus Day
in the US,
without a
vote.
One
surprise was
that the
European
Union, which
did not speak
in UN General
Assembly
committee last
week due to a
fight about
how to
identify
itself -- as
EU, EU and its
member states,
or member
states of the
EU -- did make
a statement
about Western
Sahara.
Another
surprise,
at least to
some, was the
countries like
Democratic
Republic of
the
Congo broke
from the
African Union
position that
Western Sahara
should get its
referendum. It
was later
explained that
some
Francophone
members of the
AU -- "under
pressure from
France,"
a long time AU
insider told
Inner City
Press -- have
shifted over
to
French
favorite
Morocco.
These
countries,
it was further
explained,
will go along
and vote for
Morocco over
AU
nominated
Mauritania for
a seat on the
UN Security
Council for
2012-13.
While Moroccan
Permanent
Representative
Loulichki
strutted
around the
Decolonization
Committee
meeting room
Monday with an
entourage of
testimony -
carriers,
Mauritania has
been seen,
"two
diplomats with
one cell
phone," one
observer put
it, putting in
calls to
remind other
countries of
the AU
recommendation.
During
the final
pause in the
Committee's
proceedings
for the day,
occasioned by
a broken
voting
machine, Inner
City Press
asked
Mauritania's
Permanent
Representative
if it's true
Francophone
African
countries are
going with
Morocco.
"Not all of
them," he said
hopefully,
also asking
Inner
City Press if
it had any
polling data.
The vote, of
course, is
anonymous and
blind. Money
talks.
South
Africa's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Doctor
Mashabane
devote much of
this
speech to a
call on member
states to not
engage in
illegal
exploitation
of the natural
resources of
Western
Sahara.
It
was on this
topic that
Inner City
Press last
week
approached a
senior member
of
the Moroccan
delegation to
the UN, seek a
response to
the New York
Bar
Association's
scathing
report on
Morocco's
sell-off of
contested
resources.
Despite
insults, no
actual
response has
been been
received.
Loulichki
previously at
UN, Monday he
called it
"Moroccan
Sahara"
Also
a big part of
the
Decolonization
Committee's
proceedings
were critiques
of the UK,
mostly on the
Malvinas
Islands (which
the UK calls
Falklands),
but
also Turks and
Caicos,
Monserrat and
Gibraltar.
After the
Western
Sahara vote,
the UK rose to
make its
points - then
was chided for
claiming as
"Right of
Reply" what
was really an
"Explanation
of Position."
Oh.
India
and Pakistan
traded barbs
about Kashmir,
perhaps a
preview of
skirmishes in
the
Security
Council in
2012, when
Pakistan is
seeking a seat
opposed,
late in the
process, by
Kyrgyzstan.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
In fact the
voting never
took place on
Monday, due to
the broken
voting
machine. (UN
sources told
Inner City
Press that the
voting system
and the
display.) The
vote was
rescheduled
for Tuesday,
when the
Committee will
also
discuss... the
peaceful uses
of outer
space. Only at
the UN.
, 
