Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08RABAT401
2008-05-07 12:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rabat
Cable title:
TANGIER MEETING SEES HIGHEST LEVEL ALGERIAN VISIT
how-toVZCZCXRO7359 OO RUEHTRO DE RUEHRB #0401/01 1281227 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 071227Z MAY 08 FM AMEMBASSY RABAT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8516 INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 4758 RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 3161 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3584 RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 5955 RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 3727 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 5007 RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 0297 RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 9596 RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 4050
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 000401
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2018
TAGS: PREL ECIN MO AL XA
SUBJECT: TANGIER MEETING SEES HIGHEST LEVEL ALGERIAN VISIT
IN YEARS
Classified by Political Counselor Craig Karp for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).
-------
Summary
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 000401
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2018
TAGS: PREL ECIN MO AL XA
SUBJECT: TANGIER MEETING SEES HIGHEST LEVEL ALGERIAN VISIT
IN YEARS
Classified by Political Counselor Craig Karp for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).
--------------
Summary
--------------
1. (C) The April 27 North African Political Parties
Conference in Tangier, attended by both Moroccan Prime
Minister El-Fassi and Algerian Prime Minister Belkhadem was
the highest-level contact in years between the feuding North
African neighbors. It was hailed as a potential landmark
both by Algeria's DCM and by a senior member of the Arab
Maghreb Union Secretariat in Rabat. Its significance was
downplayed by the Istiqlal party's foreign affairs
representative and by the MFA's top Arabist. Although the
fading and crotchety Minister of State Yazghi soured the
proceedings by raising the caustic Sahara dispute, Belkhadem
and El-Fassi kept their cool, participants maintained, with
apparently positive personal dynamics. While it would be
easy to exaggerate the significance of the April 27 event,
this was the highest-level Algerian visit to Morocco since
President Bouteflika attended King Hassan II's funeral in
1999. We cannot exclude the possibility that the meeting
helped establish a new channel for bilateral dialogue. End
summary.
--------------
Marking History
--------------
2. (SBU) The April 27 North African Political Parties
Conference in Tangier marked the 50th anniversary of an
historic conference with the same name, also staged in
Tangier. That 1958 event was credited with lending important
political and moral support to the struggle for Algerian
independence from the French (Morocco and Tunisia had gained
their own independence in 1956). In addition to the
attendance of the Moroccan Istiqlal (independence) and USFP
(socialist) parties, the ruling National Liberation Front
(FLN) from Algeria, and the Tunisian Neo-Dustour Party were
also present. For the April 27 event, the intent of bulding
unity within the Maghreb was underscored by the attendence of
the Mauritanian National Compact for Democracy and
Development, the Mauritanian Grouping of Democratic Forces,
and even the Libyan People's Conference and Revolutionary
Committees of the Jamahiriya.
--------------
Highest-Level Encounter in Years
--------------
3. (C) In separate discussions, Algeria's DCM, Boumediene
Guennad, and Zoheir Merchaoui, Political Counselor at the
Arab Maghreb Union Secretariat in Rabat, who both attended
the North African Political Parties Conference staged April
27 in Tangier, described the event as a success and a
potentially important step toward detente between Algeria and
Morocco. Algerian PM Belkhadem's appearance in Tangier was
the highest level Algerian visit in many years. (Note: As
Foreign Minister, Belkhadem visited Morocco in 2003, and
President Bouteflika attended King Hassan II's funeral in
1999. No Algerian ministers have come here at least since
Morocco's cancellation of the Algerian's PM's proposed visit
in 2005. End note.)
4. (C) Guennad and Merchaoui each read Belkhadem's
appearance, which was revealed only at the last minute, as a
signal that Algeria supported the principle of Maghreb Unity
and might be prepared to seek better relations with Morocco.
Belkhadem technically attended as head of the ruling FLN
party rather than as Prime Minister which probably offered
the right template for the GOA to part with its practice of
avoiding high level visits to Morocco. Though we do not know
what was discussed, a lengthy lunch at which the two Prime
Ministers sat side by side, offered an important ice-breaking
and rapport-building opportunity.
--------------
Sour Note
--------------
5. (C) A sour note was injected into the proceedings by
RABAT 00000401 002 OF 003
Minister of State (and socialist USFP representative)
Mohammed El-Yazghi, in which he demanded Algerian support for
Morocco's plan to offer autonomy to the Sahara. Yazghi's
remarks prompted a shouting match and pro-Moroccan chanting
among conference attendees, upsetting the delicate
atmosphere. (Note: The aging Yazghi's influence in the
Moroccan political scene is waning. He was toppled from his
post as head of the USFP after the party's dismal performance
in the fall 2007 elections. End note.) Nonetheless, both
Guennad and Merchaoui, who witnessed the exchange, insisted
Belkhadem appeared determined not to take the bait,
responding calmly with a brief iteration of the Algerian
position of support for Sahrawi self-determination and then
letting the matter drop. Moroccan press reaction to the
visit was muted focusing on El Yazghis outburst and
Belkhedem's response. Nonetheless,the fact of the PM's
visit to Morocco was positively noted.
6. (C) Likewise, Prime Minister El-Fassi did not disguise his
irritation with Yazghi's remarks, Guennad observed, and
calmed the room by underlining that the meeting was not the
correct forum to discuss the Sahara question. Guennad
confided that he overheard several attendees from El-Fassi's
Istiqlal party using expletives as they condemned Yazghi's
actions. We understand both El-Fassi and Belkhadem have
traditionally been considered hardliners on the bilateral
relationship. Two days before the event, Minister Delegate
and El-Fassi right hand man Nizar Baraka told us it was the
PM's intent to open this track-two channel, as part of the
GOM policy of reaching out to Algeria.
--------------
Official Downplaying
--------------
7. (C) Jamaleddine Ghazi, Co-Chairman of the Istiqlal Party's
Foreign Affairs Committee and former Moroccan Ambassador to
Brazil, told us the meeting of the two Prime Ministers was
coincidental - it just so happened that the heads of the
Istiqlal and the FLN were also currently heads of government,
but warned this should not be read as a bilateral summit.
Asked whether the Tangier meeting might have offered
opportunities for senior Moroccan and Algerian officials to
build rapport that could translate into better relations,
Ghazi insisted that the problems between Morocco and Algeria
were not personal and that El-Fassi and Belkhadem could like
and respect each other all they want - the bilateral
situation will not improve until Algeria halts perceived
obstructionism on the Sahara process and agrees to open the
border. Similarly, Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Director General for Multilateral (Arab and Islamic) Affairs
Mohammed Azeroual doubted that the Tangier event would yield
any lasting improvement in the chilly bilateral relationship.
The MFA told us it did not even send an observer. However,
in the wake of the new Moroccan initiative (septel),Minister
Fassi Fihri's Chief of Staff had more positive take.
8. (SBU) AMU Secretary-General (and former Tunisian Foreign
Minister) Habib Benyahia briefly addressed the gathering,
urging attending parties to push their governments to
accelerate the drive to regional economic integration,
highlighting the urgency of job creation and development.
Just as the delegates to the 1958 conference were inspired by
the importance of supporting Algeria's liberation from French
control, Benyahia stressed, delegates to the 2008 should
recognize the overwhelming arguments in favor of economic
cooperation among the AMU states and pursue the goal with
equal passion.
--------------
Comment
--------------
9. (C) It would be easy to exaggerate the significance of PM
Belkhadem's attendance at the Tangier conference. He did not
attend in an official governmental capacity and he left the
same day without any concrete or demonstrable achievements.
Yazghi's Sahara provocation also clearly dampened the
atmosphere. Still, Belkhadem's visit was the first time an
Algerian Prime Minister has set foot on Moroccan soil in at
least 9 years. Those who observed his interactions with PM
El-Fassi tell us the chemistry between the two appeared
RABAT 00000401 003 OF 003
positive. While the obstacles to improved relations,
particularly the Sahara file, are daunting, we should not
exclude the possibility that positive private exchanges could
have laid a foundation for a new and constructive channel for
high level contacts, which have been dormant for years,
between the two sides. We understand that at the same time,
legal Islamist PJD party chief El Othmani was attending the
MSP party conference in Algiers. We also have heard that the
FLN plans to host a return event in Algiers. End comment.
10. (U) Tripoli minimize considered.
*****************************************
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat
*****************************************
Riley
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2018
TAGS: PREL ECIN MO AL XA
SUBJECT: TANGIER MEETING SEES HIGHEST LEVEL ALGERIAN VISIT
IN YEARS
Classified by Political Counselor Craig Karp for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).
--------------
Summary
--------------
1. (C) The April 27 North African Political Parties
Conference in Tangier, attended by both Moroccan Prime
Minister El-Fassi and Algerian Prime Minister Belkhadem was
the highest-level contact in years between the feuding North
African neighbors. It was hailed as a potential landmark
both by Algeria's DCM and by a senior member of the Arab
Maghreb Union Secretariat in Rabat. Its significance was
downplayed by the Istiqlal party's foreign affairs
representative and by the MFA's top Arabist. Although the
fading and crotchety Minister of State Yazghi soured the
proceedings by raising the caustic Sahara dispute, Belkhadem
and El-Fassi kept their cool, participants maintained, with
apparently positive personal dynamics. While it would be
easy to exaggerate the significance of the April 27 event,
this was the highest-level Algerian visit to Morocco since
President Bouteflika attended King Hassan II's funeral in
1999. We cannot exclude the possibility that the meeting
helped establish a new channel for bilateral dialogue. End
summary.
--------------
Marking History
--------------
2. (SBU) The April 27 North African Political Parties
Conference in Tangier marked the 50th anniversary of an
historic conference with the same name, also staged in
Tangier. That 1958 event was credited with lending important
political and moral support to the struggle for Algerian
independence from the French (Morocco and Tunisia had gained
their own independence in 1956). In addition to the
attendance of the Moroccan Istiqlal (independence) and USFP
(socialist) parties, the ruling National Liberation Front
(FLN) from Algeria, and the Tunisian Neo-Dustour Party were
also present. For the April 27 event, the intent of bulding
unity within the Maghreb was underscored by the attendence of
the Mauritanian National Compact for Democracy and
Development, the Mauritanian Grouping of Democratic Forces,
and even the Libyan People's Conference and Revolutionary
Committees of the Jamahiriya.
--------------
Highest-Level Encounter in Years
--------------
3. (C) In separate discussions, Algeria's DCM, Boumediene
Guennad, and Zoheir Merchaoui, Political Counselor at the
Arab Maghreb Union Secretariat in Rabat, who both attended
the North African Political Parties Conference staged April
27 in Tangier, described the event as a success and a
potentially important step toward detente between Algeria and
Morocco. Algerian PM Belkhadem's appearance in Tangier was
the highest level Algerian visit in many years. (Note: As
Foreign Minister, Belkhadem visited Morocco in 2003, and
President Bouteflika attended King Hassan II's funeral in
1999. No Algerian ministers have come here at least since
Morocco's cancellation of the Algerian's PM's proposed visit
in 2005. End note.)
4. (C) Guennad and Merchaoui each read Belkhadem's
appearance, which was revealed only at the last minute, as a
signal that Algeria supported the principle of Maghreb Unity
and might be prepared to seek better relations with Morocco.
Belkhadem technically attended as head of the ruling FLN
party rather than as Prime Minister which probably offered
the right template for the GOA to part with its practice of
avoiding high level visits to Morocco. Though we do not know
what was discussed, a lengthy lunch at which the two Prime
Ministers sat side by side, offered an important ice-breaking
and rapport-building opportunity.
--------------
Sour Note
--------------
5. (C) A sour note was injected into the proceedings by
RABAT 00000401 002 OF 003
Minister of State (and socialist USFP representative)
Mohammed El-Yazghi, in which he demanded Algerian support for
Morocco's plan to offer autonomy to the Sahara. Yazghi's
remarks prompted a shouting match and pro-Moroccan chanting
among conference attendees, upsetting the delicate
atmosphere. (Note: The aging Yazghi's influence in the
Moroccan political scene is waning. He was toppled from his
post as head of the USFP after the party's dismal performance
in the fall 2007 elections. End note.) Nonetheless, both
Guennad and Merchaoui, who witnessed the exchange, insisted
Belkhadem appeared determined not to take the bait,
responding calmly with a brief iteration of the Algerian
position of support for Sahrawi self-determination and then
letting the matter drop. Moroccan press reaction to the
visit was muted focusing on El Yazghis outburst and
Belkhedem's response. Nonetheless,the fact of the PM's
visit to Morocco was positively noted.
6. (C) Likewise, Prime Minister El-Fassi did not disguise his
irritation with Yazghi's remarks, Guennad observed, and
calmed the room by underlining that the meeting was not the
correct forum to discuss the Sahara question. Guennad
confided that he overheard several attendees from El-Fassi's
Istiqlal party using expletives as they condemned Yazghi's
actions. We understand both El-Fassi and Belkhadem have
traditionally been considered hardliners on the bilateral
relationship. Two days before the event, Minister Delegate
and El-Fassi right hand man Nizar Baraka told us it was the
PM's intent to open this track-two channel, as part of the
GOM policy of reaching out to Algeria.
--------------
Official Downplaying
--------------
7. (C) Jamaleddine Ghazi, Co-Chairman of the Istiqlal Party's
Foreign Affairs Committee and former Moroccan Ambassador to
Brazil, told us the meeting of the two Prime Ministers was
coincidental - it just so happened that the heads of the
Istiqlal and the FLN were also currently heads of government,
but warned this should not be read as a bilateral summit.
Asked whether the Tangier meeting might have offered
opportunities for senior Moroccan and Algerian officials to
build rapport that could translate into better relations,
Ghazi insisted that the problems between Morocco and Algeria
were not personal and that El-Fassi and Belkhadem could like
and respect each other all they want - the bilateral
situation will not improve until Algeria halts perceived
obstructionism on the Sahara process and agrees to open the
border. Similarly, Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Director General for Multilateral (Arab and Islamic) Affairs
Mohammed Azeroual doubted that the Tangier event would yield
any lasting improvement in the chilly bilateral relationship.
The MFA told us it did not even send an observer. However,
in the wake of the new Moroccan initiative (septel),Minister
Fassi Fihri's Chief of Staff had more positive take.
8. (SBU) AMU Secretary-General (and former Tunisian Foreign
Minister) Habib Benyahia briefly addressed the gathering,
urging attending parties to push their governments to
accelerate the drive to regional economic integration,
highlighting the urgency of job creation and development.
Just as the delegates to the 1958 conference were inspired by
the importance of supporting Algeria's liberation from French
control, Benyahia stressed, delegates to the 2008 should
recognize the overwhelming arguments in favor of economic
cooperation among the AMU states and pursue the goal with
equal passion.
--------------
Comment
--------------
9. (C) It would be easy to exaggerate the significance of PM
Belkhadem's attendance at the Tangier conference. He did not
attend in an official governmental capacity and he left the
same day without any concrete or demonstrable achievements.
Yazghi's Sahara provocation also clearly dampened the
atmosphere. Still, Belkhadem's visit was the first time an
Algerian Prime Minister has set foot on Moroccan soil in at
least 9 years. Those who observed his interactions with PM
El-Fassi tell us the chemistry between the two appeared
RABAT 00000401 003 OF 003
positive. While the obstacles to improved relations,
particularly the Sahara file, are daunting, we should not
exclude the possibility that positive private exchanges could
have laid a foundation for a new and constructive channel for
high level contacts, which have been dormant for years,
between the two sides. We understand that at the same time,
legal Islamist PJD party chief El Othmani was attending the
MSP party conference in Algiers. We also have heard that the
FLN plans to host a return event in Algiers. End comment.
10. (U) Tripoli minimize considered.
*****************************************
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat
*****************************************
Riley