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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000529 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/MAG FOR ROBERT EWING AND JAMES FLOWERS 
EUR/WE FOR GARY CLEMENTS AND ANGELA CERVETTI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2017 
TAGS: PREL PBTS UNSC SP WI
SUBJECT: SPAIN COURTS ALGERIA AND MOROCCO DESPITE WESTERN 
SAHARA IMPASSE 
 
REF: STATE 35098 
 
Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (U)  This is an action request message (see paragraphs 3 
and 11). 
 
¶2. (C)  NOTE: The conversations in this message took place 
prior to receipt of reftel on briefing Spain and other 
countries on our latest Western Sahara efforts, which we will 
report via separate telegram. END NOTE. 
 
¶3. (C)  SUMMARY: After concluding delicately choreographed 
high-level visits to both Morocco and Algeria in early March, 
the Spanish government is seeking consultations with the 
Polisario in Madrid and is also contemplating shuttle 
diplomacy to Group of Friends capitals.  President Zapatero's 
visit to Morocco met with media criticism in Spain, although 
the Summit's joint communique mentioned the Sahrawi right to 
self-determination.  Meanwhile, Algeria set an unfortunate 
tone for the visit of King Juan Carlos to Algeria by 
announcing a price hike in natural gas exports to Spain on 
the day of the visit.  Nevertheless, the GOS insists that it 
is maintaining a balanced approach which respects both 
Moroccan and Algerian interests in the Western Sahara debate. 
MFA Deputy Director General for North Africa Manuel 
Gomez-Acebo told Poloff that there is an Algeria red-line 
which the government will not cross to endorse a Moroccan 
autonomy plan.  He also cautioned that any proposed solution 
that is too favorable to the Moroccans will meet with 
opposition in the UN Security Council from both Russia and 
South Africa.  (ACTION REQUEST:  Embassy suggests that as we 
brief Gomez-Acebo here on reftel that NEA DAS Gordon Gray 
consider phoning him to shore up Spanish resolve, and 
reinforce our desire for Spanish efforts to help bring the 
Polisario to the table.)  END SUMMARY. 
 
//ZAPATERO VISITS MOROCCO// 
 
¶4. (U)  President Zapatero led a high-level delegation to 
Rabat for a two-day summit with King Mohammed VI on March 
5-6.  King Mohammed marked the visit, and the birth of his 
daughter, by freeing 52 Spanish prisoners.  While ministers 
conducted bilateral meetings on a wide range of subjects 
including immigration, energy, and counter-terrorism, Spanish 
media highlighted President Zapatero,s comments on Western 
Sahara. Zapatero expressed appreciation for Morocco's 
autonomy plan and said Morocco should use it as a tool to 
restart dialogue with the Polisario and reach a lasting 
resolution in compliance with international law.  He 
expressed Spain's willingness to work with both sides to find 
consensus.  The joint communique from the Summit said the 
following: "The two parties renewed their commitment to find 
a political solution that is just, definitive, and mutually 
acceptable within the framework of the United Nations. 
Morocco revealed to the Spanish party the broad outlines of 
its autonomy proposal, which it intends to present shortly. 
The Spanish party received this proposal with interest and 
considers that it could generate a new dynamic for dialogue 
to overcome the current impasse and move forward from this 
base with the objective of achieving an understanding of this 
conflict which assures the principle of self-determination." 
 
¶5. (C)  While the declaration maintained Spain's commitment 
to Sahrawi self-determination, Zapatero met with criticism in 
Spain for allegedly shifting Spanish foreign policy away from 
Algeria toward Morocco - reflecting the Spanish Left,s 
emotional attachment to the Polisario.  Foreign Minister 
Moratinos felt compelled to respond and wrote in a March 13 
editorial in EL PAIS, "There is no deviation from the 
principles of reference, rather there is a message which 
underscores the importance of initiating a phase of dialogue 
on the profound questions which both sides have...We are 
compelled to help (the parties) close the thirty-year-old 
open wound which is impeding the rise of a united and 
prosperous Maghreb."  The same day, the Spanish Parliament 
unanimously approved a non-binding resolution expressing its 
support for the Sahrawi people and urging Morocco to release 
Sahrawi prisoners. 
 
MADRID 00000529  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
//KING JUAN CARLOS VISITS ALGERIA// 
 
¶6. (U)  A week after the Morocco summit, King Juan Carlos and 
Queen Sofia paid their first visit to Algeria since 1983. 
The visit began poorly due to the unexpected announcement by 
President Bouteflika that Algeria would be raising the price 
of natural gas exports to Spain by as much as twenty percent, 
which many in Spain saw as linked directly to Zapatero,s 
comments in Morocco.  During their formal meetings and 
speeches, however, Bouteflika did not mention Western Sahara 
and the King did so only once without making reference to the 
Moroccan autonomy plan.  Moratinos told the press, "Spain is 
against any unilateral proposal...Now it is time for the 
other party (the PF) to pronounce itself on the topic." 
 
//MFA EXPECTS VISITS FROM POLISARIO AND VAN WALSUM// 
 
¶7. (C)  MFA Deputy Director General for North Africa Manuel 
Gomez-Acebo told Poloff March 20 that following the two 
visits, Spain is hoping to host a Polisario Front delegation 
in Madrid to discuss next steps.  The invitee was yet to be 
determined, either PF "foreign minister" Mohamed Uld Salek or 
the more preferable representative to the UN Ahmed Bujari. 
Gomez-Acebo also said that UNSE Van Walsum would likely visit 
Madrid on or about March 26, and he said that Spanish 
Director General Alvaro Iranzo is looking to coordinate more 
closely with the Group of Friends in advance of the April 
reports from the Secretary General, Van Walsum, and 
eventually Morocco.  Iranzo has approached the British about 
potentially organizing a group meeting of Directors General, 
but scheduling appears to be an issue with Holy Week on the 
horizon.  Iranzo may elect to travel to capitals instead. 
 
//THE AFRICAN UNION, SOUTH AFRICA, AND RUSSIA// 
 
¶8. (C)  At Poloff's prompting, Gomez-Acebo discussed the 
potential impact of final status resolution on the African 
Union.  He noted that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is 
a member of the African Union and also had been recognized by 
South Africa and other nations and that this status appears 
to precondition a final outcome of independence for Western 
Sahara.  Spain finds that assumption troublesome. 
Gomez-Acebo noted that in prior consultations, Spain has 
found the Government of South Africa, particularly the FM, to 
be rabidly pro-independence.  He cautioned that given South 
Africa's Security Council membership and Russia's support for 
the Algerian position, any proposal that is too favorable to 
Morocco will be a non-starter at the UNSC. 
 
//MANDATE RENEWAL// 
 
¶9. (C)  As in previous meetings, Gomez-Acebo reiterated that 
Spain's objective for the Minurso renewal is to ensure that 
it not be a technical rollover and that it seek to establish 
a dialogue based on the Moroccan autonomy plan but also 
respecting self-determination.  The Security Council cannot 
ignore the plan, but it ought not go overboard in supporting 
it either, given Morocco's reticence to address 
self-determination. 
 
//SPIN// 
 
¶10. (C)  Gomez-Acebo acknowledged that the timing of 
Bouteflika's natural gas announcement was unfortunate, but he 
noted that Bouteflika later revised his remarks and said that 
negotiations on gas interests were ongoing with multiple 
Spanish energy companies.  Gomez-Acebo similarly dismissed 
press reaction to Zapatero's Morocco trip as atmospherics. 
He said that there is a historically established Spanish red 
line that the government will not cross in its dealings with 
Morocco on Western Sahara, which is the right of Sahrawi 
self-determination.  Moratinos attributed the criticism to 
those whose "real motivation is not the present or future of 
the Sahara...so much as their desire to disqualify at any 
cost the work of the Spanish government." 
 
//COMMENT// 
 
 
MADRID 00000529  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶11. (C)  While Western Sahara dominated press coverage of the 
bilateral visits, Spain closed important economic, judicial, 
migration and security agreements with both North African 
nations, and the visits could have gone worse.  Nonetheless, 
Western Sahara remains a very important issue to Spaniards. 
Zapatero's policy, viewed as leaning toward Morocco, has 
become something of a problem in Spain's volatile political 
climate approaching regional and local elections on May 27. 
The Zapatero government already faces a media storm and 
intense opposition pressure and mistrust over the 
government's handling of the terrorist group ETA.  Many 
Spaniards viewed Algeria's decision to hike the price of 
natural gas as a direct result of Zapatero,s visit to 
Morocco, and some viewed the King's task in Algeria as 
cleaning up a "mess" that Zapatero and Moratinos had created 
in Rabat.  It is in the U.S. interest to bolster Spain's 
willingness to support current U.S. efforts, including 
getting the Polisario to the table.  If Algeria opposes, the 
Zapatero government will be in a difficult position and might 
calculate based on possible political impact in the upcoming 
elections.  (ACTION REQUEST:  We therefore suggest that in 
addition to Embassy outreach to the MFA on this subject, NEA 
DAS Gordon Gray follow up with a phone call to Gomez-Acebo 
(or Director General Iranzo) to lead the GOS through U.S. 
thinking.)  END COMMENT. 
 
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Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/ 
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Aguirre