POLISARIO REMOVES OCTOBER 12 PRESS RELEASE AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 002147 SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2015 TAGS: PREL PTER AG MO WI SUBJECT: POLISARIO REMOVES OCTOBER 12 PRESS RELEASE AND ISSUES NEW STATEMENT REF: A. ALGIERS 2138 ¶B. STATE 192163 ¶C. RABAT 2144 Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) DCM followed up the evening of October 19 with Polisario "Ambassador" Mohammed Beissat on Beissat's assertion (ref A) that the Polisario's press service, SPS, had not officially released the threatening statement of October 12. DCM noted that the statement continued to appear on the SPS web site, and an embarrassed Beissat said it would be removed immediately. DCM also pressed again for an additional official statement denying any Polisario threat to American citizens or interests and, at Beissat's request, suggested language for the statement. Following the local weekend, post checked the web site October 22 and found that the October 12 statement had been removed and that a new October 20 statement had been posted. ¶2. (U) The English-language text of the October 20 statement (with minor Embassy grammatical edits) states in full: "The Government of SADR and Polisario Front, who call for the respect of international legality, reiterate that they do not have the intention to threaten either American citizens or American interests and reaffirm their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms. The struggle Saharawi people is waging, for more than 30 years, is a clean national liberation struggle that conforms to international legality and to UN's resolutions which recommend the exercise by the Saharawi people of its right to self-determination and independence." ERDMAN