BY KEEPING PEACE AND PREVENTING INSTABILITY, 'YOU ARE GIVING THE WORLD REASON TO BELIEVE IN THE UN', SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS MINURSO STAFF

9 November 1998

Press Release
SG/SM/6788

BY KEEPING PEACE AND PREVENTING INSTABILITY, 'YOU ARE GIVING THE WORLD REASON TO BELIEVE IN THE UN', SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS MINURSO STAFF

19981109 In Laayoune Today, Kofi Annan Calls for Redoubling Efforts to Bring to Conclusion Long-Lasting Western Sahara Dispute

Following is the text of the address by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the staff of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), in Laayoune today:

I am very pleased to be with you today on my first visit to MINURSO. As Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and as Secretary-General, I have followed MINURSO's progress closely. As you know well, this is not an easy operation. If it had been easy, the referendum in Western Sahara would have taken place in 1992, within a year after the establishment of MINURSO.

That this has not happened derives from the complexity of the issue we face, the strength of beliefs on both sides, and the difficulty of completing a compromise that may genuinely satisfy both sides. It does not derive from any lack of initiative or commitment on your part. Indeed, there is much that MINURSO can be proud of.

You have maintained a seven-year ceasefire after 15 years of fighting. You have, under the leadership of the Force Commander, succeeded in allowing the engineers and the deminers to proceed with their work. You have completed the identification of applicants from 85 Saharan tribes.

And, under the leadership of my Personal Envoy, James Baker III, my Special Representative and the Chairman of the Identification Commission, you have worked out acceptable procedures for the identification of three more groups. In this regard, let me say that I expect to receive confirmation from the Moroccan authorities as well as from the Frente Polisario of their agreement to these procedures.

If we continue to make progress on the implementation of the Settlement Plan, including the repatriation of refugees, it is my hope that the transitional period could begin in June or July 1999 and that the referendum could be held in December 1999.

- - Press Release SG/SM/6788 9 November 1998

This is a crucial time for our efforts in Western Sahara, a time when we must redouble our efforts to bring to conclusion the challenge of settling this long-lasting dispute. I am confident that with the full cooperation of the parties, success is possible. I know that you will do your part to bring us there.

You have come to Western Sahara from over 30 countries to serve the cause of the United Nations in bringing peace to this part of the world. You recognize that peace must be won, step by step, brick by brick, community by community. That is why your efforts here are so crucial to our overall mission. We must succeed here if we are to succeed elsewhere.

Whether you are serving as military observers, civilian police officers or civilian personnel, you are -- each and every one of you -- helping to create that crucial space for peace and political negotiation. By keeping the peace and preventing instability, you are also serving a larger cause. You are giving the world reason to believe in the United Nations. That is an invaluable accomplishment and I salute you for it.

Finally, there is the question of the political will of the parties themselves to make peace. We cannot impose from abroad the necessary will, nor the courage to make the hard choices, nor the critical recognition among the parties that a common fate obliges them to make a real peace.

You who serve in MINURSO know this as well as anyone. With your continued service and excellence in the maintenance of peace, Western Sahara is kept safe for a future of true reconciliation and partnership. That is all that you -- and we -- can do. The parties must do the rest themselves.

The United Nations will keep trying to help them find a solution because the two parties have asked us to do so. However, both sides already know that we cannot stay here indefinitely, no matter how willing we may be to help them resolve their differences. I look forward to the day when this issue is resolved and no peacekeeper or peacemaker is needed. That is the day when we can declare victory, not for one side or the other, but for peace itself.

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