UN: Nobody wants to replace Christopher Ross

"We found no one,from the large number of  international diplomats that were contacted, all refused the post of Ombudsman for the Sahara issue, for its complexity and great difficulty ... No one is willing to stain his career with the risk of a  personal failure. "
 
That's pretty much the essence of the message forwarded from the UN Department of Foreign Affairs, according to the  London Arabic daily Al Quds Al Arabi, citing a source familiar with the matter.
 
The United Nations was asked to find a replacement for Christopher Ross, the current UN mediator, rejected by Rabat for his "pro Algerian" stance.
 
As whispered in the corridors of the United Nations last May, the mission was proposed to the former U.S. Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, and he declined the offer  due to the great difficulty of the case.
 
The  Western Sahara is at a real impasse, caught between Rabat's refusal to cooperate with Ross and the continuing war of words with the Polisario.
 
Al Quds Al Arabi said that the Office of the Secretary General of the UN sent this statement to the cabinet of Saad El Edine Otmani via diplomatic channels.