Morocco emphasized the need to strengthen mediation’s role in preventing and mitigating humanitarian crises and enhancing the lives of civilian populations in conflict zones on Wednesday in New York. He stated during the meeting conducted concurrently with the 77th session of the UN General Assembly that Morocco remains committed to the central role of the UN in ensuring international peace and security.
According to Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Abroad, Morocco has engaged in direct mediation with the United States of America in this regard, under the personal supervision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, President of the Al-Quds Committee. This direct mediation resulted in the opening of the Allenby/King Hussein border crossing, connecting the West Bank and Jordan.
Mr. Bourita stressed that”in the current international context and in light of the more and more visible prevalence of conflict in international relations, mediation continues to be one of the most important tools at our disposal to prevent and solve conflicts.” He also went on to add that mediation is most valuable to prevent and mitigate complex humanitarian crises when it is used to prevent conflict.
Even more so, the Moroccan Foreign Affairs minister underlined that the main goal of any mediation process is to reach viable political solutions to conflicts. He declared that “it is true that mediation can be instrumental in solving specific humanitarian crises within larger conflicts. Yet, we should keep in mind the adverse effects of proliferation of initiatives on the prospect of conflict resolutions.”
According to Mr. Bourita, the emphasis should continue to be on including conflicting parties in the pursuit of a final political settlement and holding them accountable if they fail to do so. He continued, “this, in turn, will pave the way for post-conflict reconstruction and recovery.”
The guarantee for both successful mediations and the alleviation of complex humanitarian crises is the effective division of labor between UN mediators and the UN specialized agencies, as well as a clear demarcation between the political track and the humanitarian one, the minister stressed. Peacekeeping operations, in particular, might be more suitable to that end, depending on the context, he added.
The FM told attendees at the meeting organized by Turkey and Finland that Morocco is prepared to keep working with like-minded nations to improve the effectiveness of mediation as a tool for preventing and resolving conflicts, which in turn will foster conditions for long-term peace, security, and development.
It is worthy to note that Morocco is a member of the UN Group of Friends of Mediation, which was created on September 24, 2010, with the aim to improve the use of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes , conflict prevention and resolution.