Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05RABAT2231
2005-10-31 11:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rabat
Cable title:  

ICRC BRIEFS ON LATEST HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES IN

Tags:  MO PGOV PHUM PREL PBTS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #2231/01 3041104
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 311104Z OCT 05
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1936
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3531
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2639
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 2843
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 3852
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 8463
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 0819
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0871
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0377
C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 002231 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2009
TAGS: MO PGOV PHUM PREL PBTS
SUBJECT: ICRC BRIEFS ON LATEST HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES IN
WESTERN SAHARA AND MOROCCO

REF: A. RABAT 2227


B. RABAT 1229

Classified By: POL/C Timothy Lenderking for Reasons 1.4. (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 002231

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2009
TAGS: MO PGOV PHUM PREL PBTS
SUBJECT: ICRC BRIEFS ON LATEST HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES IN
WESTERN SAHARA AND MOROCCO

REF: A. RABAT 2227


B. RABAT 1229

Classified By: POL/C Timothy Lenderking for Reasons 1.4. (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: ICRC Regional Delegate Bernard Pfefferle
met with Poloffs October 27 to review humanitarian issues
concerning the Western Sahara and to update us on ICRC
activities in Morocco. Pfefferle said the ICRC was somewhat
put off by Moroccan insistence, conveyed in a meeting between
MFA SecGen Hillali and ICRC President Kellenberger a few
weeks ago, that the ICRC publicly absolve Morocco of any
outstanding human rights cases concerning the Western Sahara.
Pfefferle said the ICRC continues to believe both sides have
more information to impart concerning missing people and/or
their remains. Pfefferle said debriefings with the POWs
released in August had been useful and allowed ICRC to close
several cases. Pfefferle noted he had met with Equity and
Reconciliation President Driss Benzekri and MOJ SecGen Lididi
earlier in the week concerning the possibility of
establishing a formal agreement with the GOM to conduct
regular prison visits in Morocco, as the ICRC does now in
Tunisia; both officials thought the time was right and
encouraged ICRC to draft an agreement. To better follow its
activities in Morocco and the Western Sahara, the ICRC will
send a staffer on long-term TDY to Rabat. Pfefferle thanked
the US again for facilitating the release of the remaining
POWs in August. End Summary.

The Moroccans are "Stressed"
--------------


2. (C) Polcouns and Poloff met October 27 with Tunis-based
ICRC Regional Delegate Bernard Pfefferle, in country on a
periodic visit, to review ICRC's latest activities in Morocco
and to share with Pfefferle a read-out of our meetings with
human rights activists in Laayoune earlier in the week
(septel). Pfefferle explained that he had met with the MFA
Director of UN and International Affairs Madame Alaoui
earlier in the week and found the Moroccans "stressed and
tense" concerning the Western Sahara human rights dossier.
This agitation was also reflected, Pfefferle said, in a

meeting three-four weeks ago between MFA SecGen Omar Hillali
and ICRC President Jacob Kellenberger. In that meeting,
Hillali pressed the ICRC to give Morocco a clean bill of
health on past Western Sahara rights issues, and to say so
publicly. Pfefferle said the ICRC found the demarche unusual
and inappropriate and responded to Hillali that as many cases
were not closed, the ICRC could not take such action.


3. (C) Pfefferle said the question of "closing files" was a
difficult one in general. Was a file closed when the
relatives of the disappeared were satisfied no information
was being withheld? Was a case closed when the ICRC felt
both sides had provided as much information as they had, or
as much as they were going to give? Pfefferle said new
information concerning past abuses in the Western Sahara
continued to turn up: investigations by the Moroccan Truth
and Reconciliation Commission (IER, see ref A) had lead to
the discovery of gravesites and photos from the battlefield.
The IER had no mandate to share this information with the
ICRC, however, or to meet with representatives of the
Polisario, which Pfefferle thought could be useful.
Debriefings with the 404 POWs released in August had also
yielded information that allowed ICRC to close a number of
outstanding cases.


4. (C) Referring to seven well-documented cases of missing
civilians which the ICRC had gleaned from interviews in
Rabouni camp (ref B),Pfefferle said the Moroccan MFA had
some information to impart which he hoped to obtain later in
the week.


5. (SBU) Pfefferle handed to Poloffs an information sheet
updating the current figures of missing from both sides,
noting that he anticipated the information would be made
public later in the week (document transmitted in its
entirety in para 11).


6. (C) Polcouns noted that pro-Polisario human rights
advocates had stacks of cases which they alleged represented
missing persons about whom the GOM had still not provided any
information. Poloffs had seen the well-kept documents,

representing some 115 individuals seized between 1975 and
1993, during a visit to Laayoune earlier that week. The
Sahrawi activists had said that the information had been
provided to the ICRC, and they were eager for any information
the ICRC could provide. Pfefferle said he was aware of the
cases and believed the ICRC's numbers included those 115 or
so individuals.

Human Rights Education Project
--------------


7. (C) Polcouns asked how ICRC's project with the Ministry
of Education to introduce principles of international
humanitarian law into school curricula was going (Ref B).
Pfefferle said it was not going well; there was turn-over in
some of the key positions in the GOM, and the project was in
limbo. Getting this project back on track would be one of
the priorities of the ICRC employee who would be temporarily
assigned to Rabat in the coming weeks.

Prison Access
--------------


8. (C) Pfefferle was pleased that both Benzekri and MOJ
SecGen Mohamed Lididi had been encouraging about pursuing a
formal agreement with the GOM for the ICRC to gain regular
access to Moroccan prisons, as ICRC had succeeded in doing in
Tunisia. Benzekri had indicated to Pfefferle that the
decision would have to be made by King Mohammed himself, but
the timing was good. Lididi told Pfefferle that Morocco "had
nothing to hide." (Note: the lack of a formal prison
visitation agreement with the GOM prevents the ICRC from
conducting ad hoc visits, such as we explored with Pfefferle


9. (C) Polcouns endorsed the idea, noting that Moroccan
prison administration and behavior by the security services
was now regularly in the spotlight because of the Sahrawi
hunger strikes, which resumed on October 20. It was
important for the Moroccans to get in front of this issue,
stop reacting in a defensive manner, and give the Moroccan
people and the international community information -- facts
-- about the detention of these 37 individuals. Apart from
this particular issue, Polcouns noted that Moroccan prisons
are cited in the US annual human rights report for their
overcrowding and poor conditions, and having a credible
international organization like ICRC visit them periodically
could ultimately benefit Morocco. It was a good sign the GOM
was receptive to this idea, and Polcouns hoped the ICRC would
go forward.

Thanks on POW Release
--------------


10. (C) Pfefferle reiterated his thanks to the US for
facilitating the release of the remaining POWs and for being
so easy to work with in making all of the logistical
arrangements. He shared US hope that the parties would take
advantage of the release to make progress on the political
front.

Latest ICRC Figures on the Missing
--------------


11. (SBU) Following is unofficial embassy translation of
ICRC's latest document on the numbers of missing in
Morocco/Western Sahara, assed by Pfefferle to poloffs:

Begin Text:

I April 1991, the United Nations Security Council aopted,
in its resolution 690, the settlement pla proposed by the
Secretary General of the United ations, which included

SIPDIS
notably an exchange of prisoners of war under the auspices of
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The settlement plan specified that repatriation of prisoners
would happen at the end of a process of registration of all
the people allowed to vote during the referendum. This
condition led the ICRC president to write to the King of
Morocco, the Secretary General of the Polisario Front and the
Secretary General of the United Nations, to advise the

SIPDIS
parties concerned against linking the humanitarian issues to
the political aspects of the conflict settlement.


Following those steps, cooperation with the parties has been
strengthened. The ICRC, which was therefore able to offer
better protection to the prisoners and play its traditional
role within the framework of several repatriation operations,
was granted the authorization to regularly visit the
prisoners.

The ICRC visited combatants from the Polisario Front who had
been detained by Morocco until 1996. On October 31, 1996,
Morocco released 66 prisoners who were repatriated to Tindouf
by the ICRC, and has reaffirmed since then that it did not
detain any prisoners from the Polisario Front subsequently.

The ICRC visited Moroccan soldiers detained by the Polisario
Front until 2005. On August 18, 2005, the Polisario Front
released the 404 Moroccan prisoners it was still holding;
they were repatriated to Morocco that same day under the
auspices of the ICRC.

This operation puts an end to a long imprisonment and
constitutes an important step in the process of resolution of
the humanitarian consequences of the Western Sahara issue.

To that end, the ICRC continues its efforts so that the fate
of all the people who were reported missing because of the
conflict could be explained, and reminds that the parties to
the conflict are obligated to contribute to get to the bottom
of those cases.

Regarding the problem of the Sahrawi refugees, which is the
responsibility of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR),the ICRC wishes for this humanitarian issue, which
affects a population in exile for 30 years, to be solved in
the respect and dignity of all.

Outstanding humanitarian issues:

--From the beginning of the conflict, and even more after the
1991 cease-fire agreement, the ICRC dealt with requests from
the parties regarding people reported missing during the
conflict, be the disappearance linked to a brush with the
enemy or to an alleged arrest. It received a few death
certificates for prisoners who died during their
imprisonment. Information necessary to identify the exact
location and the designation of the tombs must be kept by the
responsible parties in order to be conveyed as soon as
circumstances allow.

Polisario Front combatants reported missing:

In December 2000, the ICRC received from the Polisario Front
a list of 179 combatants who had been reported missing. The
cases were submitted in stages to the Moroccan authorities
that gave written answers. Those written answers were
conveyed to the Polisario Front. Moreover:

In November 2001, 22 persons who were on this list were found
and an ICRC delegate met them in Laayoune;

-- During that same period of time, a prisoner captured by
Morocco at the beginning of the conflict, but whose status
was disputed and who had been regularly visited by the ICRC,
was released;
-- In September 2002, the Polisario Front closed eight other
cases;
-- In May 2003, four persons whose names were on the list
given by the Polisario Front were found and an ICRC delegate
met them in Laayoune and Dakhla;
-- In January 2004, a person whose name was on the list given
by the Polisario Front was found and an ICRC delegate met
that person in Nouadhibou, Mauritania;
-- In January 2005, the Polisario Front closed one other case.

--The ICRC continues consultations related to the other
unresolved cases.

Moroccan soldiers reported missing:

In April 2002, the ICRC received from the Moroccan
authorities a list of 253 Moroccan soldiers and five Moroccan
civilians who were reported missing during the conflict. The
majority of cases has been submitted to the Polisario Front,

the other ones will need to be further investigated by
Moroccan authorities. Moreover:

-- In December 2003, 19 cases of missing Moroccans for whom
the ICRC received information confirming their death in
combat, were closed;
-- In February 2005, Moroccan authorities closed 32 other
cases and reopened six older cases;
-- In July 2005, Moroccan authorities closed one other case.

--The ICRC continues consultations related to the other
unresolved cases.

Civilians reported missing:

In November 2004, the ICRC received from the Polisario Front
a provisional list of 262 Sahrawi civilians reported missing.
In April 2005, the ICRC contacted the families of those
missing civilians to complete their files. In May 2005,
seven cases were conveyed to the Moroccan authorities, which
have not yet answered. The other cases on this list will be
conveyed to the Moroccan authorities.

Other persons reported missing:

The ICRC continues its efforts in order to also take care of
all documented cases, submitted by families or any other
source, of persons reported missing but who do not appear on
the above-mentioned lists.

End Text.


RILEY