Alexander Ivanko a new head of the MINURSO
The United Nations Mission for the Western Sahara: (MINURSO- ‘Mission des Nations Unies pour l’Organisation d’un Référendum au Sahara Occidental’.) finally has a new Senior UN Diplomat as the Special Representative to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. The country of origin is Russia, one of the countries that have historically been sympathetic to Algeria and the POLISARIO. Russia is also one of the five United Nations permanent security council members.
“United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced Friday the appointment of Alexander Ivanko of the Russian Federation as his new Special Representative for the Sahara and Head of the MINURSO. He succeeds Colin Stewart of Canada, whose mandate ends on October 31, 2021. Mr. Ivanko, who has served as Chief of Staff of MINURSO since 2009, brings to the position more than 30 years of experience in international affairs, peacekeeping and journalism. He previously served as Director of Public Information for the UN Mission in Kosovo (2006-2009) and as the UN Spokesperson in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1994-1998).
Mr. Ivanko’s new position as Special Representative and head of MINURSO will have him directing the day to day affairs and administration of the peacekeeping organization on the ground with his supporting military Force Commander, Major General Zia Ur Rehman (Pakistan). MINURSO has been in place on the ground observing the cease fire since August 1991. In 2020, during the height of covid in Algeria, the POLISARIO Armed Forces launched a blockade of the Guerguarat border crossing point between Morocco and Mauritania.
In December 2020, President Donald Trump’s US administration recognized Morocco’s claim to the disputed territory. In the same announcement, it was announced that Morocco would normalize its relations with Israel, a deal which some declare as quid pro quo. Analysts did not see a change to the impasse between Morocco and the POLISARIO but hoped to give the UN an opportunity to resolve the conflict through political mediation.
Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee was concerned with other countries meddling in Africa, such as Russia, which initially supported the POLISARIO as the Soviet Union and now has significant great power competition activities in the Continent of Africa, most recently in Libya.
Mr. Ivanko has been with MINURSO since 2009. He has a lot of collective memory for execution on the ground. However, Morocco may object to this appointment since it now has ruptured diplomatic relations with Algeria, the POLISARIO’S major advocate in the region. Over two years ago, a German Special Envoy, Horst Kohler, had moved both sides closer to political settlement and resigned due to health reasons. Algeria and POLISARIO have objected to several replacement candidates. A Special Envoy is now extremely important and should come from a country with UN experience and active service, such as Switzerland or Ireland, which are known for neutrality, and will have the expertise and fair play to move the two sides to a political and economic solution.
The permanent members of the UN Security Council are the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China. They all agreed in 1991 to the establishment of the MINURSO Mission. Russia and China now vote along similar lines according to their national interests. The five permanent members of the UNSC may prefer to have a Special Envoy separate from the SRSG to avoid any perception of favoritism and to gain support from other non-permanent members of the Security Council.
Mr. Ivanko will be the Sixteenth Special Representative to the Secretary General and Head of MINURSO since the mission began.
- Mr. Ivanko has more than 30 years of experience in international affairs, peacekeeping and journalism, according to a UN statement.
- He previously served as Director of Public Information for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (2006-2009) and as UN Spokesperson in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994-1998).
- Mr Ivanko began his career in journalism, working as a correspondent in Afghanistan and the US for a Russian newspaper.
- He was also Senior Advisor to the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (1998-2005).
- He holds a master’s degree in journalism from Moscow State University and he is fluent in Russian and English.
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