Omar Hilale rebuffs Algeria’s “lectures” at UN Security Council after MINURSO vote

Morocco’s ambassador to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, rejected what he called Algeria’s “lectures” to the Security Council on Friday, October 30, telling the chamber in New York that a country presenting itself as a mere observer had tried to steer the vote. He also dismissed Algeria’s comparison between the Moroccan Sahara issue and Palestine.

Hilale took the floor after both draft resolutions on MINURSO had failed, saying he had not planned to speak because the text had for years been adopted without Morocco or Algeria addressing the Council, a “tradition” he said had now been broken.

He thanked the Algerian ambassador for speaking, arguing that the statement showed the world who bore responsibility. In his view, Algeria had used its intervention to undermine the Council, the penholder and the members that backed the draft.

Registration refused for 50 years

Turning to humanitarian law, Hilale said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had been asking for half a century to register the population of the Tindouf camps, while the host country refused any official count. He said Morocco would accept the result even if the census reached one million people, adding that registration is the first rule of international protection and the basis for measuring aid needs.

He described the camps as the only ones anywhere where the host state “leaves its authority to a separatist group”, saying this deprived residents of their rights and drew children into military exercises. Residents cannot move freely, he added, while Algeria makes any return depend on a political settlement.

“Let these people go back to Morocco. Let them go home.”

The ambassador said they should also be free to go to Spain, Europe or elsewhere in Africa. He contrasted UN figures on food shortages in the camps with what he described as weapons supplied to the separatist Polisario, and the lack of decent housing against harsh desert cold.

Palestine comparison

On Palestine, Hilale said weekly demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people have been held, and are still held, in Morocco, while such protests are banned in Algeria. Help for Palestinians, he said, comes from those who send humanitarian assistance and hospitals and work quietly for negotiations, not from those who make speeches.

He closed by thanking the United States as penholder and the countries that voted for its draft, which he said came out of long negotiations in which Morocco made many concessions.

Two failed drafts

The US draft received 11 votes in favour but fell to a veto by the Russian Federation, with China, Pakistan and Somalia abstaining. A rival Russian text, which would have extended the mission until October 31, 2027, won only three votes, with the United States against and 11 abstentions. Algeria’s representative thanked Russia and spoke of a “failure of this Security Council”. MINURSO’s current mandate expires on Saturday, October 31.