UN Should Play Active Role in Fight Against ISIL – Morocco Foreign Ministry

Permanent Secretary of Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita claims that the United Nations has its role to play in the fight against ISIL.

NEW YORK, (Sputnik) — The United Nations (UN) has its role to play in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIL), Permanent Secretary of Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita told Sputnik when asked whether he would support an initiative that the anti-ISIL coalition would be under the UN auspices.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry's official announced that it was discussing the creation of a greater coalition to fight the Islamic State (ISIL) than the one led by the United States. The broader coalition would use force under the permission of the UN Security Council.

“We consider that the fight against terrorism should use all the means: bilateral, regional, international and multilateral cooperation. In these kinds of fights there is no overlapping. All the efforts are needed and all the efforts are welcome. Of course the UN has a particular role to play because of its legitimacy, because of its added value, and in terms of universal membership,” Bourita said Sunday.

Bourita stressed that the fight against terrorism should be based on alliances of those who are ready to engage.

“We consider that while developing alliances, developing structures … are needed. The UN has its place. What we need today is how to create coherence between the umbrella of the UN and the action oriented approach, which is needed to fight terrorism,” he concluded.

A US-led coalition against the ISIL, comprised of 62 nations, has been engaged in military actions since August 2014.

Russia has repeatedly criticized the US-led coalition for conducting airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria without seeking the approval of the UN Security Council or Damascus.

Nasser Bourita also said that Morocco will push for a more action-oriented approach to the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) during its upcoming chairmanship in 2016.

“We have many memoranda and documents of best practices, they should not stay as concepts, they should be implemented on the ground and Morocco will insist to give more an action-oriented approach to the forum during its chairmanship starting from next year,” Bourita said Sunday.

The Netherlands will take over the GCTF and Morocco would assume the co-chairmanship at the end of the term. Under the auspices of the United Nations, the United States chaired GCTF for the past four years with Turkey serving as a co-chair.

“We consider that the first stage of the forum was useful in terms of elaborating documentation and preparing documents of reference. What we need in the next step is how to implement these documents,” Bourita stated.

The GCTF was established in 2011 under the auspices of the United Nations with the aim of mobilizing international resources to counter violent extremism and improving the government and civilian institutions to tackle terrorism.