WESTERN SAHARA: MOROCCAN POLITICAL PARTIES KICK

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000461

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, IO; GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2009
TAGS: MO PBTS PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: MOROCCAN POLITICAL PARTIES KICK
OFF CONSULTATIONS, WITH THE ISLAMISTS LEADING THE WAY

REF: RABAT 431 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Pol/C Tim Lenderking for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary and Comment: On March 10-11, the Islamist
Party for Justice and Development (PJD),teaming up with the
smaller Forces Citoyennes party (FC),held a conference at
the Tour Hassan Hotel in Rabat entitled "Regionalization and
Autonomy: Models and Options." International experts from
Canada, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Germany
participated and described efforts to promote regionalization
in their countries. The conference was covered by Moroccan
television and al-Jazeera, among others. The audience was
drawn mostly from Moroccan political parties, though key
players USFP and Istiqlal were not present, and academics,
including professors from universities in the Rabat area.
Among diplomats, the Brazilian ambassador and representatives
from the Canadian, French, Polish, and Italian embassies
attended.


2. (C) Summary and Comment (cont'd): While this event is
the most visible effort to date by political parties to
answer the King's late 2005 public call to propose ideas for
autonomy in the Western Sahara, it did not serve as a forum
for a debate on autonomy in the territory. The foreign
experts had little background in the Western Sahara issue and
thus made few correlations between their experience and the
Western Sahara context; as we understand it, that is
something the PJD and other parties will do behind closed
doors as they develop their plans for submission to the
Palace at the end of March (and we understand further that
the Palace has requested that the parties not make their
plans public in advance). During the brief periods slated
for debate at the conference, questions and comments tended
to focus on the foreign models rather than areas of
applicability to the Western Sahara. Subbing at the last
minute for Ahmed Lahlimi, the High Commissioner of Planning,
who reportedly took ill, was the former Mayor of Meknes and
ex-Minister of Health Taieb Bensheikh, who presented the
Moroccan perspective. Either way the choice of Moroccan
presenter was odd, given that neither of the individuals are
known for their expertise on either regionalization or the
Western Sahara. The few Sahrawis in the audience -- PJD
members from the Western Sahara, PJD officials told us --
were conspicuously quiet throughout the two-day conference.
Whatever the shortcomings of the conference, though, it once
again demonstrated the Islamist party's prowess at being
first off the mark in shaping an issue of paramount
importance to Morocco -- leaving the rest of the field to
play catch up. End Summary and Comment.

Consultations Underway
--------------


3. (C) Answering the King's late 2005 call, the Islamist
Party for Justice and Development (PJD) teamed up with the
smaller Forces Citoyennes party to organize what is thus far
the most visible and public "consultation" to promote an
autonomy plan for the Western Sahara. Experts who presented
papers on autonomy were: Roger Ouellette, Political Science
professor at the University of Moncton, Canada; Michel
Peraldi, Director of the Jacques Berque Center; Walter
Vandenbossche, Lawyer and Deputy from Brussels; Riccardo
Smimmo, First Secretary at the Italian Embassy in Rabat; Joan
Vitro, constitutional law professor at the University of
Barcelona; and Abdejabbar Arrach, Law professor at Hassan II
University in Settat, who spoke about regionalization in
Germany (based on years of residence and study there).

The PJD Opens
--------------


4. (C) Following a brief opening by PJD general secretariat
member Lahcen Daoudi, PJD Secretary General Saad Eddin
Othmani outlined his party's approach to the question of
autonomy, centering it on the following five points. First,
Othmani said that autonomy must be a voluntary choice,
without pressure from the outside. Second, he emphasized the
need for Morocco's regions to be reconfigured and based on
criteria that take into account the economic development of

the regions. Third, he stressed regional governments and
regional parliaments should exist in Morocco's local
governance structure. He added that these institutions should
be run by people who have been elected freely and
democratically, not appointed. Fourth, Othmani highlighted
that the southern provinces should be granted more
specificity than other regions with respect to their autonomy
because of their "political situation." Lastly, Othmani
underscored that there must be frank debate, national
consensus, and transparency on this issue in order for an
autonomy plan to be credible in the eyes of the Moroccan
population.

Lahjouji's Comments
--------------


5. (C) After Othmani's opening remarks, Abderrahim Lahjouji,
President of the Forces Citoyennes party (FC),delivered
brief comments on regionalization and autonomy. (Comment:
FC has no seats in the Moroccan parliament. Its founders,
like Lahjouji, are mostly businessmen. The two parties
signed an alliance two years ago and have co-sponsored a
number of events, including a conference on US-Morocco Free
Trade Agreement in 2005). Focusing on the prevalence of
globalization in the international community, Lahjouji
commented that despite the many positives that globalization
can bring to the table, there are very important cultural
implications to consider. Lahjouji noted that one important
negative aspect is that globalization has a tendency to
standardize the ways of life for different populations,
alluding to the unique cultural heritage of Sahrawis in the
Western Sahara. It is in this light, he explained, that
regionalization can play an important role for Morocco.
Regionalization, he offered, provides an outlet for
populations, i.e. the Western Sahara, to resist change that
results from globalization, and can also produce a democracy
that is more decentralized and more representative. He
emphasized, without directly referencing the Western Sahara,
that preserving regional autonomy with a responsible elected
officials will assure socioeconomic and cultural development.
However, he laid out very clearly that certain
responsibilities, including territorial integrity, national
defense, and monetary unity should remain in the hands of the
central government. Lahjouji closed by saying that he hoped
the conference, through debate and learning from other
country's experiences, would help make Morocco "more
democratic, more modern, and more developed."

The Moroccan Perspective
--------------


6. (C) Taieb Bensheikh, the former mayor of Meknes and
ex-Minister of Health, presented his thoughts on Morocco's
experience with decentralization following the country
experts. While his presentation largely focused on how
decentralization can promote regional economic development
and the key role the economic sectors can play in this
process, Bensheikh also stressed the importance of local
governments being granted more responsibility in order to
manage local affairs more effectively. Bensheikh added that
economic, social, and cultural development are dependent on
the existence of healthy political institutions, a parliament
that represents the popular will, and local communes that are
a result of free and fair elections. He explained that it is
time for the Kingdom to undertake constitutional reforms to
increase the powers of the government and the Prime Minister,
which will also reinforce the role of the Ministry of Justice
and ensure its independence and impartiality. Bensheikh
added that in his view, the inhabitants of the "southern
provinces" will not accept any alternative but to preserve
the territorial integrity of the Kingdom.

Views from Decentralization Experts
--------------


7. (SBU) Poloffs compared notes March 13 with
decentralization and communications experts at the
USAID-funded SUNY parliamentary program, who also attended
the conference. Julia Demichelis, Chief of Party for the
State University of New York Center for International

Development's (SUNY/CID) Parliament Support Project,
explained that, in her view, political parties, including the
PJD and FC, are capitalizing on the current debate regarding
the future of the Western Sahara to promote their own ideas
on regionalization and decentralization for all of Morocco,
not just the Western Sahara. While presenters provided good
fodder for discussion on various institutional and legal
options for decentralization, Demichelis noted that they did
not take the lessons learned from their respective cases and
relate them to the Moroccan experience, let alone to the
particulars of the Western Sahara. The conference was a good
start towards a meaningful dialogue, but lacked synthesis,
she added. Ahmed Jazouli, Communication specialist for
SUNY/CID and former spokesperson for Morocco's fourth largest
political party, commented that the PJD's "real work" on its
autonomy plan will start after the conference, drawing main
ideas and key lessons from each presenter. While there were
some parallels drawn between the Spanish experience with the
Basque region and Morocco's experience with the Western
Sahara, Jazouli noted that the Spanish model can not be
directly applied to Morocco.

Press Reaction
--------------


8. (SBU) As of March 14, the conference had triggered
little reaction or debate in the Moroccan press beyond
factual reporting. Moroccan TV carried the event on the news
the evening of March 11. One interesting comment appeared in
the PJD-affiliated Arabic-language daily Attajdid on March
14, quoting Mostafa Barrazani, a former Polisario official
who attended the conference. Barrazani contended that no
matter how "generous" Morocco's autonomy plan is or what it
includes, the Polisario and Algeria will immediately and
categorically reject it. He argued that it is in Morocco's
interest to implement the autonomy plan unilaterally if
necessary, without negotiations with the Polisario or
Algeria. This would allow Moroccans to see in practice the
advantages and disadvantages of the autonomy solution. This
would be a "good experiment," he concluded.

Activities of Other Parties
--------------


9. (SBU) Meanwhile, as Istiqlal Secretary General Abbas el
Fassi prepares to visit the US at the end of March and as his
party prepares a road show around Morocco to discuss
autonomy, the USFP announced that it held an internal meeting
on March 7 to review the party's vision for autonomy.
Finance Minister and USFP heavyweight Fathallah Oulalou
reportedly debriefed party officials on his meeting with
Palace Advisor Mohamed Motassim in early March to discuss the
King's expectations of the political parties.
******************************************
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat
******************************************

Bush