PSC/PR/COMM/1.( CDXCVI)
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Parties, the neighboring states and other AU Member States, as well as with the UN and other
relevant international stakeholders, with a view to ensuring the effective implementation of the
relevant OAU/AU decisions and UN resolutions on Western Sahara, bearing in mind the role of the
OAU/AU as Guarantor of the Peace Plan endorsed in resolution AHG/Res.104(XIX), adopted by the
19th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held in Addis Ababa from
6 to 12 June 1983, which served as the basis of the August 1988 Settlement Proposals that set into
motion the peace process for Western Sahara. In this respect, and taking into account that Western
Sahara remains an issue in the completion of the decolonization process of Africa, Council:
(i)
decides to reactivate the ad hoc Committee of Heads of State and Government on
the conflict in Western Sahara, established pursuant to resolution AHG/Res.92(XV),
adopted at the 15th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and
Government of the OAU, held in Khartoum, Sudan, from 18 to 22 July 1978. Council
further decides to expand the composition of the ad hoc Committee to comprise
ten Heads of State and Government, two from each of the five regions of the
continent. Council requests the Chairperson of the Commission to urgently
undertake the necessary consultations for the finalization of the composition and
the operationalization of the ad hoc Committee;
(ii)
requests the Commission, through the appropriate channels, to undertake a
demarche towards the UN Security Council, for the AU Special Envoy for Western
Sahara to be given the opportunity to address the Security Council during its
meeting on Western Sahara scheduled to take place in the month of April 2015.
Council further requests the African members of the UN Security Council, working
within the framework of the A3, to support and facilitate this request;
(iii)
decides to establish an International Contact Group for Western Sahara (ICG-WS), in
order to keep the issue on the international agenda and to mobilize the necessary
support for the early resolution of the conflict, and invites the Chairperson of the
Commission to undertake the necessary consultations to this end; and
(iv)
further decides to regularly review the situation in Western Sahara, at least twice a
year, on the basis of updates and recommendations provided by the Chairperson of
the Commission;
9.
Looks forward to the renewal of the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in
Western Sahara (MINURSO) at the expiration of its current mandate, on 30 April 2015, as decided
by the Security Council in resolution 2152 (2014) of 29 April 2014. Council urges the UN Security
Council to take the necessary steps to provide MINURSO with a human rights mandate, taking into
account the need to ensure sustained, independent and impartial monitoring of human rights in
both the Territory and the refugee camps. Council requests the High Commissioner for Human
Rights to take appropriate steps in this respect;
10.
Requests the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to undertake, as
soon as possible, a mission to Western Sahara and to the refugee camps in Tindouf, to assess the
human rights situation and make recommendations to Council, building on the outcome of its visit
to the region in September 2012. In this regard, Council urges the Government of the Kingdom of