VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAS #1063/01 3350836
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 010836Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8170
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0574

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001063 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2019 
TAGS: PREL PBTS MARR PTER AG MO UN
SUBJECT: POLISARIO ASKS U.S. TO RESPOND TO MOROCCAN 
PROVOCATIONS 
 
REF: ALGIERS 1041 
 
Classified By: CDA, a.i., William Jordan; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C)  Summary: DCM and Poloff travelled on November 21 to 
Tindouf, Algeria, to meet with senior Polisario Front leaders 
to discuss the future of UN-led mediation efforts on the 
Western Sahara conflict and to observe the conditions of life 
in the Sahrawi refugee camps. Polisario officials reiterated 
criticism (per reftel) of the Moroccan government's toughened 
stance on the Western Sahara conflict and its treatment of 
Sahrawi activists and requested the international community 
to respond. Sahrawi leaders cautioned that Moroccan actions 
could complicate future negotiations between the parties 
mediated by UNSYG Personal Envoy Christopher Ross.  A cable 
on meetings with NGOs working with refugees and impressions 
of current camp conditions will follow septel.  End Summary. 
 
Polisario Accuses Morocco of Undermining UN Efforts 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (C)  DCM and Poloff made a daylong visit to Tindouf on 
November 21 to confer with UN officials and tour nearby 
Sahrawi refugee camps.  With many senior Polisario officials 
(including SecGen Abdelaziz) away at a conference in 
Barcelona, we had not expected a serious, substantive program 
of meetings.  That proved far from the case, as DCM and 
poloff were taken to the Polisario "presidency" shortly after 
finishing their UN meetings.  The apparent intent was to echo 
or expand upon what we heard from the Polisario's 
"ambassador" in Algiers a few days earlier per reftel. 
Polisario "Prime Minister" Abdelkader Taleb Omar led off by 
telling the DCM that UN-led negotiations needed to take place 
in an atmosphere of calm and trust, but King Mohammed VI had 
escalated the dispute and was undermining efforts to achieve 
a peaceful solution. Omar continued by saying that the UN 
Security Council called for progress on human aspects of the 
conflict, but the King's speech calling for the punishment of 
traitors, Morocco's arrest 
of activists who had visited Tindouf, and its deportation of 
the Sahrawi activist Aminatou Haidar ran counter to that 
spirit. Omar cited reports by several international human 
rights organizations pointing to restrictions on personal 
expression in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. Taleb Omar 
said Polisario has refrained from taking a public position on 
Morocco's actions but that it is under great pressure from 
its supporters to do so. 
 
Sahrawi Leaders Reiterate the Need for a "Democratic" Solution 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
 
¶3. (C)  Bachir Mustafa, a member of the Polisario's National 
Secretariat's Political Branch, stated that, since the 1991 
ceasefire, the Polisario has put its faith in the UN and has 
hoped to find a peaceful solution by which neither party 
feels defeated.  He said that a "democratic solution" would 
strengthen the credibility of the UN, weaken extremism, and 
help cultivate a democratic culture in North Africa in 
accordance, he said, with U.S. goals.  Mustafa referred to 
Morocco as a "big brother" in the region with its own 
interests, which the Polisario does not wish to harm.  He 
went on to pledge Polisario's cooperation with regional 
actors in the area of counterterrorism. 
 
Seeking International Pressure on Morocco 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C)  Omar and Mustafa both called for the U.S. and UN to 
pressure Morocco to release the seven Sahrawi activists it 
arrested in October, to encourage a solution to the conflict 
based on "international legality," and to provide guidelines 
for future negotiations. Sahrawi "President" Abdelaziz's 
diplomatic adviser Radi Bachir warned that unless Morocco 
addresses the cases of the arrested and deported Sahrawi 
activists, as the Polisario requested from the UN Secretary 
General this month, the talks will experience major 
complications.  Mustafa called the Moroccan actions a 
provocation and said that although Morocco claims that the 
dispute is a threat to its stability, Polisario had an 
interest in maintaining Moroccan stability.  Referring to the 
Polisario's call for a popular referendum on the territory, 
Mustafa questioned why Morocco could not reconcile stability 
with democracy.  Omar asserted that Morocco's recent 
provocative actions were based on a misinterpretation of the 
U.S. Secretary of State's recent statement about the Moroccan 
autonomy plan.  He claimed that Morocco is closer to 
destabilizing the region than solving the conflict. 
 
¶5. (C)  DCM replied that the U.S. continues to believe, as 
NEA A/S Feltman stated publicly during his recent visit to 
Algiers, that the USG believes that a peaceful, sustainable, 
 
and mutually agreed solution can best be reached through the 
UN-led process.  The Secretary in Marrakech had intended to 
reaffirm our view that the Moroccan proposal was a serious 
and credible option for the parties to consider along with 
other proposals submitted to Ambassador Ross.  The DCM 
reminded the Polisario representatives of the positive basis 
on which the informal negotiations began and said that the 
U.S. is awaiting guidance from UN Personal Envoy Christopher 
Ross on how the international community should continue to 
show support for his efforts. He urged the Polisario 
leadership to take the rhetorical high road and avoid 
provocative statements against Morocco that could be 
construed as threats to continuing the diplomatic process, 
noting that further escalation of the war of words would only 
further undermine the UN envoy's mission.  DCM assured the 
Polisario that U.S. officials are privately voicing similar 
requests to the Moroccan government to show rhetorical 
restraint and warning of the grave risk that actions such as 
those taken against Aminatou Haidar have for the UN-led 
process. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) The treatment of human rights activists is clearly a 
red line for Polisario.  Its leadership repeated that 
Polisario is close to demanding the release of the activists 
who visited Tindouf as well as the repatriation of Aminatou 
Haidar as preconditions for resuming the Ross-led process. 
Our discussions in Tindouf may have partially assuaged 
Polisario concerns that the Polisario message was not 
registering in Washington and helped set the record straight 
about strong perceptions in Tindouf and Algiers that the 
Secretary's remarks in Marrakech constituted a strong tilt in 
favor of Morocco's autonomy plan as the basis of a solution 
to the Western Sahara dispute.  In any case, Polisario told 
us that, pending a final decision on what to do in the face 
of recent Moroccan actions and statements, it intends to go 
ahead with tentative plans to meet Ross informally in NYC in 
December. 
JORDAN