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DE RUEHRB #0359/01 0592136
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O 282136Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2939
INFO RUEHAB/AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN PRIORITY 0057
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA PRIORITY 0051
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3756
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1614
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA PRIORITY 0019
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 1159
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2790
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 5361
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 2995
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 4021
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 1307
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0928
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

S E C R E T RABAT 000359 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, PRM; GENEVA FOR RMA; CAIRO FOR CHEYNE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2009 
TAGS: MO PGOV PREF PREL
SUBJECT: GOM REFUGEE POLICY:  LIMITED INTERNATIONAL 
RESETTLEMENT OKAY PROVIDED IT'S LOW-KEY 
 
 
Classified By: POL/C Timothy Lenderking for Reasons 1.4. (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) MFA Secretary General Omar Hilale told Polcouns 
February 22 that the GOM had "no objection" to an 
international refugee resettlement program out of Morocco 
provided it remained low-key, with as little media attention 
as possible to avoid attracting more would-be refugees to 
Morocco.  He stated bluntly that any migrants identified by 
UNHCR as refugees were, in fact, "UNHCR's problem," and 
Morocco would not allow them to stay in the country. 
Morocco, moreover, would not extend any special protection to 
the refugees beyond facilitating their departure from Morocco 
through international resettlement.  Agreeing to 
international resettlement involves "no legal recognition on 
our part" of their status in Morocco as refugees, Hilale 
stressed. 
 
¶2.  (C) Hilale, who was joined in the meeting by MFA Director 
of UN Affairs Nasser Bourita, commented he had just met with 
UNHCR Morocco Representative Johannes Van der Klauw that 
morning, and he believed the two had an agreement on 
Morocco's terms for establishing international resettlement. 
Polcouns noted that US Cairo-based regional refugee 
coordinator planned to visit Morocco the week of March 6 to 
explore international resettlement options with UNHCR, the 
GOM, and other potentially interested third countries (Note: 
UNHCR has scheduled a meeting on March 6 for visiting 
regional ref coord and numerous diplomatic missions that 
might be interested in small-scale resettlement out of 
Morocco).  Polcouns walked Hilale through the planned visit, 
much of which UNHCR had already briefed him on.  He welcomed 
the visit and appeared comfortable with the proposed program. 
 (Hilale will meet with UNHCR and ref coord on March 3). 
 
Better Relations with UNHCR 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Hilale noted that relations between UNHCR and the GOM 
had improved significantly in the last few months.  Hilale 
said that prior to Van der Klauw's arrival, UNHCR was not 
screening applicants for refugee status carefully and was 
handing out refugee certificates willy nilly, including to 
those who were clearly economic migrants.  There was 
substantial documentation fraud, Hilale charged, and no 
attempt on UNHCR's part to "apply the rules."  In addition to 
the avalanche of migrants into Morocco that led to assaults 
on the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in the fall of 
2005, resulting in a dozen deaths, Hilali said the GOM was 
concerned about trafficking networks and possible terrorists 
taking advantage of the migrant explosion to move into and 
through Morocco.  This was a potential security problem, he 
said.  Morocco was concerned about terrorist cells and 
trafficking mafias mixing in with the migrants. 
 
¶4.  (C) Hilale said there were some 150 individuals that 
UNHCR identified as refugees from the many hundred of 
migrants they had interviewed up to now.  The majority of the 
bona fide refugees were from eastern Congo and the Ivory 
Coast.  As part of the low-key approach envisaged by Morocco, 
Hilale said the refugees should not be informed of their 
resettlement destinations until the last minute.  Polcouns 
said he understood why Morocco would not want to become more 
of a magnet than it already was for migrants, but noted that 
there would have to be refugee screening and processing done 
by individual countries, and it was probably unrealistic if 
not illegal to keep the refugees in the dark until the last 
minute about where they would be resettled. 
 
¶5.  (C) Polcouns asked how the GOM intended to treat those 
migrants who did not qualify as refugees, in light of reports 
that some had been rounded up and dumped in the Western 
Sahara or on the Algerian border.  Hilale said flatly that 
economic migrants cannot stay in Morocco.  The GOM was 
working closely with several African embassies in Rabat, 
especially the Nigerian, to repatriate migrants voluntarily. 
The GOM felt this effort was working well and enjoyed the 
cooperation of the governments involved.  Hilale said the 
 
Nigerian government had specifically requested the support of 
Morocco in repatriating its nationals.  Hilale said tougher 
border controls in Ceuta and Melilla had discouraged migrants 
from coming to Morocco, and for the time being the crisis of 
last fall had passed.  Hilale said Algeria may have responded 
to some pressure from UNHCR and Europe to crack down on 
illegal transit, but there was "zero cooperation" on the 
migration issue between Morocco and Algeria.  Hilale 
emphasized that the repatriations thus far had been voluntary 
 Asked about treatment of those who refused to return home, 
Hilale said he did not envision a massive round-up of 
migrants; if people remained under the radar screen and out 
of trouble, Hilale granted many would probably end up staying 
in Morocco regardless of Morocco's official policy.  Whatever 
the situation, Hilale concluded, Morocco could not handle 
illegal migrants on its own, without political and financial 
help from Europe and the international community. 
 
UNHCR's View 
------------ 
 
¶6.  (C) During a February 24 meeting with poloffs to follow 
up on the Hilale meeting (septel), Van der Klauw agreed there 
was a "gentleman's agreement" with Hilale on Morocco's terms 
for conducting international resettlement, but Van der Klauw 
stressed he had made no guarantees to Hilale that UNHCR would 
resettle the whole refugee caseload -- only that he would try 
his best.  Spain and Portugal, he said, had both taken small 
numbers of refugees from Morocco recently.  He hoped such 
non-traditional resettlement countries could be induced to 
participate further in resettlement efforts, something he 
hoped to ascertain at the meeting on March 6.  As to 
Morocco's handling of migrants not accorded refugee status, 
Van der Klauw was less sanguine in his view about their 
treatment at the hands of the Moroccan authorities. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (C) Morocco's homegrown, cut-and-dried refugee policy may 
be somewhat at odds with international refugee law, and naive 
as well in terms of Hilale's insistence that the resettlement 
effort remain under wraps.  Nevertheless, there is a good 
working relationship now between UNHCR and the MFA, and 
apparently frequent communication between the two offices, 
which will help the two navigate through some of the 
challenges that lie ahead.  While we understand the US is 
open to resettling some of the refugee caseload from Morocco, 
we do recognize the pull factor for Morocco, and encourage 
UNHCR and the USG to do this without a lot of fanfare.  We 
have little doubt that the GOM will reverse course quickly if 
they see an up-tick in illegal migrants and find themselves 
in the spotlight as they were with the border assaults in the 
fall. 
****************************************** 
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat 
****************************************** 
 
Riley