SPAIN COURTS ALGERIA AND MOROCCO DESPITE WESTERN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000529

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA/MAG FOR ROBERT EWING AND JAMES FLOWERS
EUR/WE FOR GARY CLEMENTS AND ANGELA CERVETTI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2017
TAGS: PREL PBTS UNSC SP WI
SUBJECT: SPAIN COURTS ALGERIA AND MOROCCO DESPITE WESTERN
SAHARA IMPASSE

REF: STATE 35098

Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) This is an action request message (see paragraphs 3
and 11).


2. (C) NOTE: The conversations in this message took place
prior to receipt of reftel on briefing Spain and other
countries on our latest Western Sahara efforts, which we will
report via separate telegram. END NOTE.


3. (C) SUMMARY: After concluding delicately choreographed
high-level visits to both Morocco and Algeria in early March,
the Spanish government is seeking consultations with the
Polisario in Madrid and is also contemplating shuttle
diplomacy to Group of Friends capitals. President Zapatero's
visit to Morocco met with media criticism in Spain, although
the Summit's joint communique mentioned the Sahrawi right to
self-determination. Meanwhile, Algeria set an unfortunate
tone for the visit of King Juan Carlos to Algeria by
announcing a price hike in natural gas exports to Spain on
the day of the visit. Nevertheless, the GOS insists that it
is maintaining a balanced approach which respects both
Moroccan and Algerian interests in the Western Sahara debate.
MFA Deputy Director General for North Africa Manuel
Gomez-Acebo told Poloff that there is an Algeria red-line
which the government will not cross to endorse a Moroccan
autonomy plan. He also cautioned that any proposed solution
that is too favorable to the Moroccans will meet with
opposition in the UN Security Council from both Russia and
South Africa. (ACTION REQUEST: Embassy suggests that as we
brief Gomez-Acebo here on reftel that NEA DAS Gordon Gray
consider phoning him to shore up Spanish resolve, and
reinforce our desire for Spanish efforts to help bring the
Polisario to the table.) END SUMMARY.

//ZAPATERO VISITS MOROCCO//


4. (U) President Zapatero led a high-level delegation to
Rabat for a two-day summit with King Mohammed VI on March
5-6. King Mohammed marked the visit, and the birth of his
daughter, by freeing 52 Spanish prisoners. While ministers
conducted bilateral meetings on a wide range of subjects
including immigration, energy, and counter-terrorism, Spanish
media highlighted President Zapatero,s comments on Western
Sahara. Zapatero expressed appreciation for Morocco's
autonomy plan and said Morocco should use it as a tool to
restart dialogue with the Polisario and reach a lasting
resolution in compliance with international law. He
expressed Spain's willingness to work with both sides to find
consensus. The joint communique from the Summit said the
following: "The two parties renewed their commitment to find
a political solution that is just, definitive, and mutually
acceptable within the framework of the United Nations.
Morocco revealed to the Spanish party the broad outlines of
its autonomy proposal, which it intends to present shortly.
The Spanish party received this proposal with interest and
considers that it could generate a new dynamic for dialogue
to overcome the current impasse and move forward from this
base with the objective of achieving an understanding of this
conflict which assures the principle of self-determination."


5. (C) While the declaration maintained Spain's commitment
to Sahrawi self-determination, Zapatero met with criticism in
Spain for allegedly shifting Spanish foreign policy away from
Algeria toward Morocco - reflecting the Spanish Left,s
emotional attachment to the Polisario. Foreign Minister
Moratinos felt compelled to respond and wrote in a March 13
editorial in EL PAIS, "There is no deviation from the
principles of reference, rather there is a message which
underscores the importance of initiating a phase of dialogue
on the profound questions which both sides have...We are
compelled to help (the parties) close the thirty-year-old
open wound which is impeding the rise of a united and
prosperous Maghreb." The same day, the Spanish Parliament
unanimously approved a non-binding resolution expressing its
support for the Sahrawi people and urging Morocco to release
Sahrawi prisoners.

MADRID 00000529 002 OF 003



//KING JUAN CARLOS VISITS ALGERIA//


6. (U) A week after the Morocco summit, King Juan Carlos and
Queen Sofia paid their first visit to Algeria since 1983.
The visit began poorly due to the unexpected announcement by
President Bouteflika that Algeria would be raising the price
of natural gas exports to Spain by as much as twenty percent,
which many in Spain saw as linked directly to Zapatero,s
comments in Morocco. During their formal meetings and
speeches, however, Bouteflika did not mention Western Sahara
and the King did so only once without making reference to the
Moroccan autonomy plan. Moratinos told the press, "Spain is
against any unilateral proposal...Now it is time for the
other party (the PF) to pronounce itself on the topic."

//MFA EXPECTS VISITS FROM POLISARIO AND VAN WALSUM//


7. (C) MFA Deputy Director General for North Africa Manuel
Gomez-Acebo told Poloff March 20 that following the two
visits, Spain is hoping to host a Polisario Front delegation
in Madrid to discuss next steps. The invitee was yet to be
determined, either PF "foreign minister" Mohamed Uld Salek or
the more preferable representative to the UN Ahmed Bujari.
Gomez-Acebo also said that UNSE Van Walsum would likely visit
Madrid on or about March 26, and he said that Spanish
Director General Alvaro Iranzo is looking to coordinate more
closely with the Group of Friends in advance of the April
reports from the Secretary General, Van Walsum, and
eventually Morocco. Iranzo has approached the British about
potentially organizing a group meeting of Directors General,
but scheduling appears to be an issue with Holy Week on the
horizon. Iranzo may elect to travel to capitals instead.

//THE AFRICAN UNION, SOUTH AFRICA, AND RUSSIA//


8. (C) At Poloff's prompting, Gomez-Acebo discussed the
potential impact of final status resolution on the African
Union. He noted that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is
a member of the African Union and also had been recognized by
South Africa and other nations and that this status appears
to precondition a final outcome of independence for Western
Sahara. Spain finds that assumption troublesome.
Gomez-Acebo noted that in prior consultations, Spain has
found the Government of South Africa, particularly the FM, to
be rabidly pro-independence. He cautioned that given South
Africa's Security Council membership and Russia's support for
the Algerian position, any proposal that is too favorable to
Morocco will be a non-starter at the UNSC.

//MANDATE RENEWAL//


9. (C) As in previous meetings, Gomez-Acebo reiterated that
Spain's objective for the Minurso renewal is to ensure that
it not be a technical rollover and that it seek to establish
a dialogue based on the Moroccan autonomy plan but also
respecting self-determination. The Security Council cannot
ignore the plan, but it ought not go overboard in supporting
it either, given Morocco's reticence to address
self-determination.

//SPIN//


10. (C) Gomez-Acebo acknowledged that the timing of
Bouteflika's natural gas announcement was unfortunate, but he
noted that Bouteflika later revised his remarks and said that
negotiations on gas interests were ongoing with multiple
Spanish energy companies. Gomez-Acebo similarly dismissed
press reaction to Zapatero's Morocco trip as atmospherics.
He said that there is a historically established Spanish red
line that the government will not cross in its dealings with
Morocco on Western Sahara, which is the right of Sahrawi
self-determination. Moratinos attributed the criticism to
those whose "real motivation is not the present or future of
the Sahara...so much as their desire to disqualify at any
cost the work of the Spanish government."

//COMMENT//


MADRID 00000529 003 OF 003



11. (C) While Western Sahara dominated press coverage of the
bilateral visits, Spain closed important economic, judicial,
migration and security agreements with both North African
nations, and the visits could have gone worse. Nonetheless,
Western Sahara remains a very important issue to Spaniards.
Zapatero's policy, viewed as leaning toward Morocco, has
become something of a problem in Spain's volatile political
climate approaching regional and local elections on May 27.
The Zapatero government already faces a media storm and
intense opposition pressure and mistrust over the
government's handling of the terrorist group ETA. Many
Spaniards viewed Algeria's decision to hike the price of
natural gas as a direct result of Zapatero,s visit to
Morocco, and some viewed the King's task in Algeria as
cleaning up a "mess" that Zapatero and Moratinos had created
in Rabat. It is in the U.S. interest to bolster Spain's
willingness to support current U.S. efforts, including
getting the Polisario to the table. If Algeria opposes, the
Zapatero government will be in a difficult position and might
calculate based on possible political impact in the upcoming
elections. (ACTION REQUEST: We therefore suggest that in
addition to Embassy outreach to the MFA on this subject, NEA
DAS Gordon Gray follow up with a phone call to Gomez-Acebo
(or Director General Iranzo) to lead the GOS through U.S.
thinking.) END COMMENT.

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Aguirre