WESTERN SAHARA: SAHRAWI YOUTH FRUSTRATION MOUNTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 001269 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2028 TAGS: PREF PREL PBTS WI AG SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: SAHRAWI YOUTH FRUSTRATION MOUNTS AS LEADERS PUSH FOR NEXT ROUND OF TALKS REF: ALGIERS 693 Classified By: DCM Thomas F. Daughton; reasons 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Sahrawi youth are increasingly frustrated and speak of a return to armed conflict with Morocco, but there is no indication that they are preparing to do so, or that they are indeed capable. During a November 15 visit by poloff and visiting NEA/MAG Algeria desk officer to a Sahrawi refugee camp near Tindouf, Polisario leaders said that the lack of progress in status negotiations on Western Sahara was the driving force behind the anger. Although the Polisario is shouldering increased criticism from Sahrawi youth, a MINURSO official assessed that there was little evidence of action behind the youth's rhetoric and that Polisario leaders were capable of reining in potential fringe elements. Polisario officials hoped the next round of Manhasset talks would begin soon and blamed Morocco for delaying the announcement of a new special envoy. World Food Program officials thanked us for the USD 6.8 million U.S. food contribution, which should begin arriving in January and will secure the pipeline through May 2009. UNHCR's Confidence Building Measures (CBM) team said no progress has been made on a possible land route for CBM family visits. On security matters, interlocutors asserted that the vast border zone near the camps was not a haven for arms or drug smuggling. Polisario officials also asserted that their community was not threatened by ideological or religious extremism. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) From a hilltop overlooking the Smara refugee camp 70 kilometers southeast of Tindouf, a sprawling landscape of tents and mud-brick structures peppered with water storage bins, solar panels and the occasional radio antenna and cell-phone tower stretches across the desert. The Smara camp is home to approximately 42,000 Sahrawi refugees and a rudimentary infrastructure of schools, health clinics and social services that constitutes the Polisario's administrative model for governing daily life in each of the five Sahrawi camps. While walking through the camp at noon during a November 15 visit, we observed Sahrawi refugees, mostly women and children, going about their daily routines. In a meeting with camp administrators, Khatri Adduh, Smara's governor, rattled off a list of the day-to-day problems he is called on to resolve. Adduh, in a refrain that we heard in each meeting with Polisario representatives, underscored his concern about opportunities for Sahrawi youth, the need to reanimate the UN process on Western Sahara and what he perceived as Morocco's unhelpful role in reaching a solution. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS -------------- ¶3. (C) Polisario leaders told us that Sahrawi youth have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in status negotiations and with the bleak prospects for jobs or any future beyond the camps. Polisario Prime Minister Abdulkhader Taleb Omar told us that the discontent among youth has given way to increased criticism of the Polisario's commitment to negotiations amidst calls by a growing faction of youth to abandon the talks and return to the fight. Governor Adduh said he also sees many youth frustrated by the lack of progress and spends much of his time trying to keep them engaged in positive activities. Many children and young adults benefit from exchange visits to Europe during the summer, but Adduh admitted that the real need is to find constructive activities for youth in the camps themselves. Khatri and Omar said their overall message to youth focuses on the realities of the armed conflict with Morocco, which the camp's young people are not old enough to remember, and the importance of continuing the UN dialogue. ¶4. (C) American missionaries representing Christ the Rock Church said they have also witnessed rising levels of frustration among camp youth. The group's leader told us during an October 21 meeting in Algiers that many Sahrawi youth say they are ready to resume fighting if the UN process fails to produce results, but she saw no evidence of preparation for such action. In Smara, one American missionary explained that the youth population in the camps was growing and noticed more people wandering the Smara camp than in previous visits. The Laayoune camp, another ALGIERS 00001269 002 OF 003 missionary commented, was also growing and would soon eclipse the number of inhabitants in Smara. Asked why the numbers in Laayoune seemed to be increasing, Christ the Rock's leader said some youth from the Moroccan side of the berm had crossed through Mauritania to the camp, but she said a steady birth rate was the real growth engine. ¶5. (C) MINURSO Liaison Office Head Bakary Dabo had a similar take on Sahrawi youth frustration. Dabo observed the most recent Polisario party congress in December 2007 during which a rowdy faction of young delegates made a scene by openly criticizing the Polisario's stance on negotiations. Although the group voiced slogans calling for a return to the fight, Dabo saw no evidence of action behind the rhetoric and assessed that the Polisario was capable of reining in such fringe elements if needed. Dabo recalled another incident during the past year in which the Polisario Youth and Sports Minister led a busload of young Sahrawi near the buffer zone, instructing them to hurl stones at the berm. The event stirred a small ruckus and ended with the Polisario defense minister severely reprimanding his colleague. WHICH WAY TO MANHASSET -------------- ¶6. (C) A subtle yet clear criticism of Morocco and the perception of U.S. backing for the Moroccan position was present in many of the conversations we had with Polisario officials. Governor Adduh emphasized that talks in Manhasset would not be fruitful without U.S. pressure on Morocco to negotiate in good faith. After our meetings, presidential protocol liaison Hamadi Bashir, who also acted as our translator throughout the day, pressed us on the reasons behind the UN's delay in announcing a new special envoy. Bashir asked why the U.S. "blindly" supported Morocco and urged the U.S. to push Morocco to agree to the new envoy and to reconvene the next round of Manhasset talks at the earliest opportunity. The delay, Bashir insisted, was "yet another Moroccan tactic to designed to stall talks." Bashir did not mention Ambassador Chris Ross by name. ¶7. (C) Separately, MINURSO officials in Tindouf conveyed reports from their colleagues in Morocco that the human rights situation on the Moroccan side of the berm was getting worse, but gave no details. PRAISE FOR U.S. WFP CONTRIBUTION -------------- ¶8. (U) President of the Sahrawi Red Crescent Society Yahia Bouhebeini and World Food Program (WFP) representatives thanked us for our USD 6.8 million food contribution, which WFP expects to begin receiving in January. Bouhebeini called the U.S. contribution a genuine humanitarian effort to aid Sahrawi refugees. WFP's sub-office manager said the U.S. donation would secure a continuous flow of food aid in the pipeline for four months. He cautioned, however, that more donations were needed within the next two months to feed the refugees beyond May 2009. Bouhebeini and WFP remained concerned about malnutrition rates and the diversity of food stocks for rations (reftel). CBM: NO PROGRESS ON LAND ROUTE -------------- ¶9. (C) UNHCR's CBM team in Rabouni was positive about the humanitarian impact of family reunification visits and the telephone call centers in the camps. UNHCR said 6,645 individuals and 1,783 families have benefited from UN-sponsored flights to visit relatives living across the berm. Currently, UNHCR can transport 37 passengers in each direction and participants can visit with relatives for five days. No progress has been made, however, on a possible land route to allow overland transportation for visits. UNHCR said it hoped to expand the program by using aircraft with more passenger capacity. As to building confidence between the two parties, UNHCR officials told us that both sides had confidence in UNHCR to implement the exchange visits transparently and objectively, but they said there was little to suggest that the visits have bolstered the parties' confidence in each other. ALGIERS 00001269 003 OF 003 BORDER ISSUES -------------- ¶10. (C) MINURSO's Dabo revealed no information about illicit cross-border activities between the camps, Mauritania and Morocco. He remarked that from his vantage point MINURSO's observations were limited to a few minor infractions of the cease-fire agreement. UNHCR's sub-office representative, Nikola Mihajlovic, told us that he had heard rumors of drug trafficking across the Mauritanian border, but nothing related to arms smuggling. Mihajlovic asserted that the garrison of 30,000 Algerian soldiers in and around the military town of Tindouf was likely a deterrent for smugglers. Polisario PM Taleb Omar said some Sahrawi cross into Mauritania to visit relatives, but he was unaware of smuggling or security concerns. Smara Governor Adduh noted that the border region near the camps was too desolate to pose a risk for smuggling. He added that he was less concerned about smuggling and the potential exposure to extremism such activities might bring because the primary source of tension in the camps was the Western Sahara issue, and not ideological or religious beliefs. PEARCE