TANGIER MEETING SEES HIGHEST LEVEL ALGERIAN VISIT

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