WESTERN SAHARA: GOM CLAIMS IT'S NOT STALLING ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000671

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, IO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2009
TAGS: MO PBTS PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: GOM CLAIMS IT'S NOT STALLING ON
UN HUMAN RIGHTS VISIT

REF: RABAT 637

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


1. (C) Following up on SRSG Bastagli's April 6 comment that
Morocco had turned off a third attempted visit to the Western
Sahara by the UN High Commission for Human Rights (reftel),
Polcouns called MFA Director for UN Affairs Nasser Bourita
the afternoon of April 13 to get the official Moroccan
perspective on the visit, which according to MINURSO was
slated for March 29. Bourita said Morocco's position on the
visit was clear and had been conveyed to the UNHRC on several
occasions, most recently in a letter from FM Benaissa to
UNHRC Commissioner Arbour on April 4. The GOM agreed to the
principles of the visit and was ready to receive the mission.
The GOM understood and accepted that the UNHRC delegation
would visit four locales - Rabat, Laayoune, Tindouf, and
Algiers - to assess human rights issues concerning the
Western Sahara conflict.


2. (C) Bourita said the issue for the GOM at this stage was
that the Moroccans had come to learn that the delegation's
stop in Algiers was an exchange of views during a dinner -
nothing more. No other meetings or activities were
scheduled. The GOM believed that the meetings in each stop
should follow the same format; an exchange of views over
dinner would not allow for the kind of serious treatment of
the issue that the GOM envisioned and that the GOM would be
offering for its part. Bourita said the Moroccans had a
number of files on human rights violations perpetrated by the
Algerians which they intended to share with the UNHRC. Such
files could not be treated seriously during a dinner; Morocco
would want to raise rights violations by the Algerian
military, for example. In Rabat, the delegation had
requested meetings with the MFA, MOD, MOJ, and MOI. There
was an imbalance in what was being asked of the two sides;
Morocco was prepared to arrange everything the delegation
requested, but the Algiers visit was clearly intended to be
non-substantive. Morocco would seek to present some facts
from the conflict, and include testimony from ex-POWs, NGOs,
and others. A dinner format did a disservice to the many
people who suffered at the hands of the Algerians during the
years of the conflict.


3. (C) Polcouns (having in mind Sahrawi dissidents such as
Mohamed Dadach and Mohamed Afari and others) asked whether
the UNHRC had requested to meet particular individuals in the
Western Sahara. Bourita said no, there were requests rather
for specific NGOs and ministries. None of this posed a
problem for the GOM, Bourita emphasized. The GOM was
pursuing the visit in a "very constructive" spirit, he
insisted. Reading from FM Benaissa,s April 6 letter to
UNHRC Commissioner Arbour, Bourita said Morocco "reaffirms
its agreement with the modalities of the HRC visit and has
instructed its mission in Geneva to work with the HRC;"
however, Bourita continued reading, "an exchange of views is
not the mandate of the Commission."


4. (C) Bourita closed by saying he understood that Polisario
President Abdelaziz was blaming Morocco for canceling the
UNHRC visit on three occasions. "We hope the reality will be
reflected in the UNSYG,s report," Bourita said. With the
March visit now off, the GOM was hoping to reschedule the
visit to early May, Bourita said. Polcouns responded that
there was international interest in the human rights
situation in the Western Sahara, noted Morocco had nothing to
gain by appearing to be obstructionist, and hoped the
variables could be worked out to get the visit back on track.
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Riley