VZCZCXYZ0009
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0767/01 1012005
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 112005Z APR 06
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8694
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS IMMEDIATE 0872
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID IMMEDIATE 6159
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT IMMEDIATE 0037
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT IMMEDIATE 0527

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000767 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV UNSC AG MO WI
SUBJECT: ALGERIANS IN NEW YORK OBJECT TO VAN WALSUM 
INITIATIVE, MOROCCAN AUTONOMY PLAN 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. John Bolton. E.O. 12958. Reasons 1.4 (b/d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Algerian PR Youcef Yousfi March 22 conveyed 
Algeria's objections to Personal Envoy for Western Sahara 
Peter van Walsum's proposal that Algeria participate as a 
party in negotiations with Morocco on the issue of Western 
Sahara and to a presumed forthcoming Moroccan autonomy 
proposal that rules out self-determination for the Sahrawi. 
These points, made in a late February letter from President 
Bouteflika to Secretary-General Annan, have also been 
conveyed to every Security Council member.  Ambassador Bolton 
said that van Walsum's proposal was an attempt to break a 
stalemate wherein Morocco remains satisfied, and the 
Polisario and Algeria unsatisfied, with the status quo. 
Encouraging Algerian flexibility, Ambassador Bolton said the 
U.S. continues to support the efforts of the Personal Envoy, 
is open as to what action the Security Council may take in 
the future, and awaits a substantive Moroccan plan and the 
Polisario response to it.  End Summary. 
 
Algeria's Concerns; Bouteflika's Letter 
 
 
¶2. (C) In a March 22 meeting he requested with Ambassador 
Bolton to discuss the Western Sahara, Algerian PR Youcef 
Yousfi said Algeria is concerned that the Secretary-General's 
Personal Envoy for Western Sahara has chosen to ignore 
fifteen years of Security Council efforts and advocate a 
political process based only on the principle of autonomy, a 
process that ignores the principle of self-determination for 
the Palestinian people.  He said that Algeria has also 
learned that Morocco plans to present a plan for autonomy for 
the Western Saharans that does not include Western Saharan 
sovereignty over the territory.  Finally Algeria has heard 
that Personal Envoy Peter van Walsum has advocated the idea 
of direct Algerian negotiations with Morocco on the Western 
Sahara issue. 
 
¶3. (C) Ambassador Yousfi said that Algerian President 
Bouteflika had recently written a letter to Secretary-General 
Annan.  (Note: The letter, personally delivered on late 
February to Annan by Algerian Minister Delegate for the 
Maghreb Abdelkader Messahel, has not been made public.  End 
Note.)  Yousfi, summarized the main points of the letter: 
 
  History will remember that it was during the tenure of the 
Secretary-General that the Baker Plan offered a way to break 
 
SIPDIS 
through the thirty year deadlock in the Western Sahara in a 
manner characterized by realism, justice and legality. 
 
  Algeria has been surprised to learn of a proposal for 
Algeria to participate in direct negotiations with Morocco in 
a manner that would consecrate a pre-determined autonomy for 
the Western Sahara in the name of "realpolitik," but would, 
in fact, be at variance with international legality and the 
rights of the Western Saharans. 
 
  Algeria refuses to be considered a party to the conflict 
and to negotiate with Morocco in place of the people of 
Western Sahara; any kind of negotiation to find a solution 
should be conducted between the two parties (Morocco and 
Polisario) only. 
 
  There is no reason for Algeria to be associated with such a 
negotiation: Algeria has nothing to claim and nothing to give. 
 
¶4. (C) Yousfi told Ambassador Bolton that he has seen the 
representatives of the every Security Council member to 
convey a similar message.  One, a P-5 PR very close to the 
U.S., told Yousfi that he had informed Personal Envoy van 
Walsum twice already that any plan van Walsum brings to the 
Security Council should have the support of the Polisario and 
the non-objection of Algeria. 
 
Van Walsum's Frustration, Moroccan Satisfaction, Algerian 
Flexibility 
 
 
¶5. (C) Ambassador Bolton thanked Yousfi for his presentation 
of Algeria's views on Western Sahara.  Ambassador Bolton said 
that he saw van Walsum's initiative as a reflection of his 
frustration with a status quo in which Morocco will not 
accept a referendum involving self-determination.  The 
current stalemate, Ambassador Bolton said, is very 
satisfactory to Morocco -- they control the territory, have 
not had a referendum and no one will force them to have one. 
It is not satisfactory for the Sahrawi, who are in refugee 
camps in Tindouf, and it cannot be satisfactory for Algeria, 
on whose land the refugees live and for whom borders are a 
constant source of concern.  One has to give credit to van 
Walsum for trying to break the status quo.  Otherwise, 
Morocco will continue to settle more and more people in the 
territory, reinforce its control of the territory, and begin 
to exploit mineral rights and fishing rights there.  Then, 
possession being nine points of the law, the international 
community will come to accept Western Sahara as part of 
Morocco.  Ambassador Bolton added that in our discussions 
with Moroccan officials we have said that any autonomy plan 
that they might offer should be a substantial and genuine 
plan, not one to be treated as a starting point for 
negotiations. 
 
¶6. (C) Ambassador Yousfi asked what the Security Council 
might do if the Moroccans offer an autonomy plan and the 
Polisario, as would be expected, rejects it.  In such an 
eventuality, Yousfi asked, would the Security Council 
consider imposing a solution?  He reiterated Algeria's 
position that it would not follow a "realpolitik" policy and 
said that as the status quo continues, the unhappiness to 
which the Polisario must respond will increase, forcing its 
leadership to find a way to express its opinions.  Ambassador 
Yousfi said that for the past fifteen years, Algeria has 
sought to improve relations with Morocco while preferring 
that the UN solve the problem of Western Sahara.  Yet some 
months ago Morocco had canceled the scheduled visit of the 
Algerian Prime Minister.  Some people in Algeria believe that 
there cannot be any improvement in the bilateral relationship 
until the problem of Western Sahara is solved.  Moreover, the 
longer it drags on, the more difficult it will be to solve. 
 
¶7. (C) Ambassador Bolton said that he had earlier suggested 
that if there continued to be no agreement, the Security 
Council should consider whether MINURSO had outlived its 
usefulness.  Analytically, he said, we remain flexible and 
open to suggestions.  He said the position of the U.S. 
government is to support the work of the Personal Envoy. 
Ambassador Bolton said that his personal his wish is that the 
Western Sahara problem be solved, but that it is a problem 
that cannot be solved until the status quo is broken. 
Ambassador Bolton said that he is curious to see how the 
Polisario will react to the Moroccan plan.  He said that the 
Polisario have been restrained for some time.  Commenting on 
the need for flexibility and Algeria's reluctance to 
participate in Western Sahara negotiations, Ambassador Bolton 
recalled that when former Personal Envoy Baker worked the 
issue, Algeria and Mauritania were present at the discussions 
not as parties but as interested observers. 
 
BOLTON