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Fez- France’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gerard Araud, said that he would sue Spanish actor Javier Bardem for defamation.
Last week the Spanish actor, known for his unwavering support for the Polisario, made a statement to the press that caused uproar in Morocco and resulted in a diplomatic crisis between the kingdom and France.
Bardem told French media last week that, during a meeting he had held with France’s Ambassador to Washington in 2011, the French diplomat had told him that “Morocco is a mistress who you sleep with every night, who you don’t particularly love but you have to defend.”
But it turned that the Spanish actor was referring to France’s Ambassador to the United Nations rather than its Ambassador to Washington. The French newspaper Le Monde, which first published the statement of the actor, has rectified the error.
On Tuesday, Gerard Araud was quoted by Moroccan news website Hespress as saying that he would seek permission from his Foreign Ministry to sue the Spanish actor.
According to Moroccan journalist, Moumaed Ouamoussi, Araud told him in a phone conversation that he had never met with the Spanish actor, nor did he make such a demeaning statement against Morocco.
Deception tactic
This deception tactic used by this staunch supporter of the Polisario is in line with the misrepresentations contained in his film "Sons of the Could".
One of the most flagrant misrepresentations is when he says in the trailer of the film that the United Nations Mission for the organization of the Referendum in the Sahara, known by its French acronym as the MINURSO, is the only UN Mission that does not include a human rights monitoring mechanism.
But it takes a quick look on the UN website to discover that the MINURSO is not the only UN mission that does not include this mechanism. In fact, there are two others, in much hotter spots, that don’t have this mechanism, namely the UN Mission in Liberia and the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei.
In addition, there had been other UN Missions whose mandates have ended, and which did not include such a human rights monitoring mechanism. These missions are as follows:
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (1999-2005).
United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (2000-2008).
United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (1994-2000).
United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (1993-1996).
United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (1991- 2003).© Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed
