South Africa lashes out at UN over Western Sahara

South Africa on Tuesday chastised the UN Security Council after it adopted a resolution on Western Sahara that it said was unbalanced and ignored African concerns. The US-drafted resolution extending the observer mission in Western Sahara was adopted by a vote of 13 in favor in the 15-member council. South Africa abstained along with Russia.
South African Ambassador Jerry Matjila told the council his government had considered opposing the measure that renewed the MINURSO mission until October 31 and called for negotiations on ending the conflict to resume. "The current text as it stands is not balanced," said Matjila.
He appealed for support for Western Sahara's people, drawing a parallel with his own country for which international solidarity "brought down the repressive system of apartheid". South Africa is a supporter of the Polisario Front, the movement seeking a referendum on independence from Morocco for the north African territory.
The African Union recognizes the self-declared Sahrawi Arab republic, which claims authority over Western Sahara, but Morocco is also an AU member. South Africa complained that only a handful of European countries and the United States had been involved in the first stages of the drafting of the text and that human rights concerns were not addressed.
"This is again an example of an African issue being decided by those that are not from the continent," said Matjila. Russia also said it considered the resolution unbalanced. The resolution calls on parties to resume negotiations to achieve a "just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."
It comes after the United Nations held two rounds of exploratory talks between Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania on ending the decades-old conflict. The meetings in Switzerland in December and in March marked the first time in six years that the sides sat down at the negotiating table, but little concrete progress was achieved. UN envoy Horst Koehler is planning to convene a third round of talks, but no date has been set.