MFA RESPONDS SHARPLY TO MOROCCAN ACCUSATIONS OF

UNCLAS ALGIERS 002132 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM SMIG AG MO SUBJECT: MFA RESPONDS SHARPLY TO MOROCCAN ACCUSATIONS OF ALGERIAN ROLE IN CLANDESTINE IMMIGRATION ISSUE REF: A. ALGIERS 2082 ¶B. FBIS GMP20051016710021 ¶1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an unusually sharply worded official response October 17 to the October 16 comments of Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou that "strongly condemned Algeria and the Polisario's exploitation of the very complex immigration issue to achieve cheap propaganda ends." (text in FBIS ref B). The Algerian response, with its pointed criticism of Jettou's remarks, marks a departure from Algeria's usual posture of presenting its policy positions in terms of the interests of the international community, international law and Security Council resolutions, as was the case in the earlier remarks by an unnamed senior MFA official reported in Ref A. Below is embassy's lightly edited, unofficial translation of the French text of the MFA statement as published in the semi-official daily El Moudjahid October 18. ¶2. Begin edited text of MFA statement: "In the face of the flood of fanciful, fallacious, and extreme accusations by the Moroccan governmental authorities manifestly seeking to blame others for their own actions, Algeria firmly adopts a position of calm and level-headedness. Morocco's unfortunate relentless effort (to blame others),which presents a sorry spectacle, does not concern Algeria in the least. This relentless effort, as well as the inappropriate and unjustified mixing together of the complex problem of clandestine immigration and the question of the decolonization of the Western Sahara are evidence of a regrettable moral and political drift. The painful humanitarian developments arising from the phenomenon of clandestine immigration are followed by Algeria with all the attention and levelheadedness required by a particularly sensitive and complex question...It is surprising that the Moroccan governmental authorities, for some days now, have given themselves over to a deplorable escalation of defamatory and malicious remarks against Algeria in the context of the difficult situation which has developed on Moroccan territory..." ¶3. A passage follows on Algeria's commitment to work with African and international partners to find a solution to the clandestine immigration problem. The statement concludes: "The unfortunate hostility toward Algeria that the Moroccan authorities incessantly entertain will not have the least impact on Algerian positions that conform with international law and are historically coherent." ERDMAN