Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ALGIERS2045
2005-10-04 15:46:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

ALGERIAN DRAFT RESOLUTION ON WESTERN SAHARA IN

Tags:  PREL WI MO AG UNGA 
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UNCLAS ALGIERS 002045 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL WI MO AG UNGA
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN DRAFT RESOLUTION ON WESTERN SAHARA IN
UNGA FOURTH COMMITTEE


UNCLAS ALGIERS 002045

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL WI MO AG UNGA
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN DRAFT RESOLUTION ON WESTERN SAHARA IN
UNGA FOURTH COMMITTEE



1. DCM represented the Embassy at a meeting October 3
convoked by MFA with the ambassadors of North and South
American states. MFA Acting Director General for the
Americas Abderrahmane Benmokhtar explained that Algeria is
about to introduce a draft resolution on the Western Sahara
in the UNGA's fourth committee when it convenes next week,
and was briefing regional groups of ambassadors in advance of
the introduction of the draft (text faxed to USUN and
NEA/MAG). Benmokhtar with a straight face stressed that
Algeria thought there should be "no controversy" about the
draft and hoped to have it passed by consensus, but he added
that Morocco may call for a vote. If that were the case,
Benmokhtar said Algeria hoped that member states would vote
yes since abstentions "would only serve to solidify Morocco's
intransigence."


2. Benmokhtar said the main operative points of the Algerian
draft: (1) underlines UNSCR 1495 in which the Council
expressed its support for James Baker's peace plan "as an
optimum political solution"; (2) strongly supports the
efforts of the SYG and his Personal Representative to achieve
a mutually acceptable political solution to the dispute; (3)
calls for the parties and regional states to cooperate fully
with the SYG and his Personal Representative; (4) reaffirms
the responsibility of the UN to the people of the Western
Sahara; and (5) calls upon the parties to cooperate with the
ICRC in determining the fate of missing persons and to
release all those held since the beginning of the conflict.


3. (SBU) In the follow-on discussion, Benmokhtar stressed
that the Security Council, in Resolution 1495, unanimously
supported the Baker plan. He said Algeria has no territorial
ambitions in the Western Sahara, but only seeks to support
the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination. Benmokhtar
said Algeria had taken the initiative to introduce the draft
resolution "in order to avoid maneuvers," presumably on the
part of Morocco. As the meeting concluded, a member of the
MFA's IO department told DCM that Algeria only sought the
implementation of the Baker Plan.
ERDMAN