VZCZCXYZ0011
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #1138 1640741
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 130741Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3993
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 4034
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4243
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 3207
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 5532
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 2980
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0550
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS RABAT 001138 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PBTS PGOV PREL MO
SUBJECT:  Western Sahara:  Moroccan University Hosts Conference on 
Autonomy 
 
REF: RABAT 461 
¶1.   The Faculty of Law, Economy and Social Sciences at Hassan I 
University in Settat, two hours' drive from Rabat, organized on May 
31 and June 1 a conference entitled "What Type of Autonomy for the 
Southern Provinces?"  University President Mohamed Rahj opened the 
conference, noting that the event was held in answer to the King's 
call for all sectors of society to join the discussion on autonomy. 
The key note speaker was Minister of National Education Habib El 
Malki.  The Wali of Settat (a former high-ranking Polisario 
official), civil society activists, Sahrawi tribal representatives, 
faculty, and students attended.  (One student told us there were 
about 40 Sahrawi students at the university, and relations between 
them and the rest of the student body were good).  The Islamist Party 
of Justice and Development (PJD) was the most visible of the 
political parties, with both SecGen Othmani and parliamentarian 
Lahcen Daoudi present for the opening remarks.  While many diplomats 
from Rabat were invited, only the Turkish First Secretary and Poloffs 
made the trek from Rabat. 
 
¶2.   The conference was similar to the event held by the PJD in Rabat 
in April (Ref A), and is the second such conference to be held in 
Morocco.  It featured presentations from Moroccan academics and 
foreign experts in the field of autonomy and decentralization, with 
presentations on the Belgian, Spanish, and Canadian models. 
Presenters discussed regionalization and decentralization and 
economic considerations such as exploitation of resources.  Unlike 
the PJD event, the conference had time blocked off for "debate" among 
political party and civil society representatives. 
 
¶3.  The conference was prominently featured on the evening news and 
covered by al Jazeera.   A Moroccan political scientist present noted 
the symbolism of holding the conference in the hometown of ex- 
Minister of Interior Driss Basri, now in semi-exile in Paris, and 
suggested that the event represented a positive break from Basri's 
iron rule of the Sahara during his long tenure as minister under 
Hassan II. 
 
Riley