Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08RABAT570
2008-06-20 07:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rabat
Cable title:  

MOROCCO RIOTS: WHAT HAPPENED IN SIDI IFNI?

Tags:  PHUM PINR PINS ECON EFIS EAGR MO 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3633
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RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 4159
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 0003
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 RABAT 000570 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2018
TAGS: PHUM PINR PINS ECON EFIS EAGR MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO RIOTS: WHAT HAPPENED IN SIDI IFNI?

REF: A. RABAT 0158

B. RABAT 0411

C. RABAT 0416

D. RABAT 0546

Classified By: DCM Robert P. Jackson for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 RABAT 000570

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2018
TAGS: PHUM PINR PINS ECON EFIS EAGR MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO RIOTS: WHAT HAPPENED IN SIDI IFNI?

REF: A. RABAT 0158

B. RABAT 0411

C. RABAT 0416

D. RABAT 0546

Classified By: DCM Robert P. Jackson for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) The heavy-handed police breakup of a blockade at the
Sidi Ifni port on June 7, and consequent riot, yielded
numerous casualties. In contrast to media reports, there
were neither fatalities nor rapes, but a consensus of
credible independent inquiries confirms there were numerous
cases of police abuse and use of excessive force. The local
tensions that gave rise to the blockade of the port by
unemployed university graduates remain unresolved and could
have broader implications. Parliament is sending an official
commission of inquiry to the town to investigate.


2. (C) The Government's decision to prosecute Al-Jazeera for
wrongly reporting deaths, an escalation in its ongoing
dispute with the network, is another setback for press
freedom. The police overreaction could have been due to poor
training, but may also have been partly intended to signal a
low tolerance for street demonstrations over economic issues,
especially price increases for food and fuel. In contrast to
Polisario claims, there was no significant political Sahara
angle, but there were complaints that government resources go
disproportionately to the territory and bypass the town.
Local Berber tribal politics may have also played a role. In
any case, maintaining order in the face of unrest, while
still adhering to human rights standards, will be a difficult
but important balancing act for the GOM as it grapples with
this and future incidents of unrest. End Summary.

-------------- --
An Unclear Chain of Events and Claims of Deaths
-------------- --


3. (U) On June 7, in the southern town of Sidi Ifni, police
broke up a protest by the Union of Unemployed College
Graduates (UUCG) that had blockaded the local port since June

2. Initial reports from NGOs, which were picked up by Al

Jazeera and other media outlets such as Agence France Press,
Reuters and BBC claimed that up to a dozen demonstrators had
been killed, women raped and scores of people had been
arrested or were missing. The reports were based in part on
a June 7 press conference in which the Moroccan Center for
Human Rights (CMDH) denounced "police brutality" and claimed
that 10 to 12 people "might" have died. The Government of
Morocco (GOM) immediately and forcefully denied the claims.


4. (U) In the days following the incident, both the press and
civil society backed away from reports of deaths, with CMDH
officials telling PolOff in a meeting that their initial
information had been incorrect and &based on information
received as events were unfolding.8 They insisted, however,
that police misconduct occurred, and pointed to footage of
the unrest posted on YouTube. CMDH and other credible media
and NGO sources reported that large numbers of protesters had
taken to the hills to hide from authorities, where at least
some remained a week after June 7. The Government stated
that it had no choice but to break up the protest, which had
prevented trucks from leaving the local port and led to the
spoilage of 700 tons of sardines and a financial loss of MAD
6 million (USD 812,000). Smaller, follow-up demonstrations,
accompanied by some violence, continue.

--------------
Multiple Inquiries ) Similar Results
--------------


5. (C) After initial resistance, the GOM allowed multiple,
independent inquiry teams to visit Sidi Ifni and ask
questions unhindered. They included groups from the
(Islamist) opposition Party of Justice and Development (PJD)
and a variety of NGOs including the Moroccan Association of
Human Rights (AMDH),and Moroccan Organization for Human
Rights (OMDH). Without exception, they all found evidence of

RABAT 00000570 002 OF 004


illegal breaking and entering by members of the security
forces, theft of property from homeowners, many instances of
excessive use of force and beatings, and a deliberate
taunting and insulting of citizens ) especially women. No
inquiries validated reports of deaths. PJD leader Lahcen
Daoudi told PolCouns that his party's delegation found no
evidence of rapes, or deaths, but much misconduct. Most
individuals reported missing eventually turned up in custody,
although some were thought to be hiding in the country around
Sidi Ifni. On June 17, the GOM released seven of eleven
detained protest leaders.


6. (C) Subsequent public statements from two members of the
PJD delegation, Abdullah Baha and Mustapha Ramid, known to be
strong and vocal critics of the Government, stated that they
had found no evidence to support the most extreme
allegations. On June 19, Parliament formed a 12-person
Commission of Inquiry charged with visiting Sidi Ifni and
conducting an official investigation.

--------------
YouTube Tells a Tale
--------------


7. (U) A review of YouTube clips showed police officers
moving into the zone of unrest with batons, rubber bullets
and, in one instance, a sling shot. Some videos, shot from
inside homes, showed police battering down doors and,
apparently, the messy aftermath of searches and bruises from
beatings. Videos also showed protesters throwing rocks and
objects at security forces. The Government claimed that 48
people had been slightly injured, 28 officers and 20
protesters, while NGO sources put the number of protesters
injured at 60. According to the Government, approximately
1,100 members of the security forces participated in the
action.

--------------
Troubled Context
--------------


8. (C) Sidi Ifni, a former Spanish colony that reverted to
Morocco in 1969, has one of the lowest poverty rates in
Morocco (3.95 percent) but suffers from a tremendous gap
between its wealthy, maritime-based elite and an impoverished
general population (Ref D). CMDH President Hosni Abdelmajid
said that the Union of Unemployed College Graduates (Comment:
A nationally active but not necessarily respected
organization which is often seen as being made up of &lazy
layabouts8. End Comment. ) deliberately chose to blockade
the port because it was both a symbol of inequity and a way
to get authorities, attention for their demands; which
include jobs, better health care, and training. The blockade
was triggered when only eight out of 150 applicants for
refuse service jobs in the port were hired. Abdelmajid said
that Sidi Ifni sees little benefit from the ocean wealth that
pours into the port and then out its gates to the rest of
Morocco and the world.


9. (C) Lawyer and President of human rights NGO Adala
(Justice) (and former MEPI grantee) Abdelaziz Nouyidi said
that &entrenched interests8 deliberately goaded local
authorities into a strong response out of a concern that such
protests may spread. Nouyidi said that Morocco is facing
significant economic and social pressure resulting from the
recent increases in fuel and food prices and that the
Government and economic power structure are concerned about
keeping a lid on bubbling discontent. He said the Polisario
played absolutely no role in instigating the Sidi Ifni
events, complaining that the Government was trying to
discredit a social protest by ascribing to it a false
political motive. Nouyidi added that Sidi Ifni's proximity
to Western Sahara makes the authorities doubly sensitive
about upheavals there.

--------------
Sahrawi on Sahrawi Jealousy...
--------------


10. (C) During a June 18 meeting with PolOff, foreign
diplomats agreed with Nouyidi that they saw no Polisario hand
in recent events, although others had reports of some

RABAT 00000570 003 OF 004


Polisario flags appearing during the demonstration. They
did, however, believe that anger over the vast differences
between subsidies and services for pro-Morocco Sahrawis
living in nearby Western Sahara, a scant 200 kilometers away,
and those in Morocco proper played a catalytic role. One
diplomat told PolOff that she had heard, during an April
personal visit to Sidi Ifni, complaints from residents about
the unfairness of the two-tier system in which their family
members, by virtue of living south of an imaginary line,
received services and funds far in excess of what they and
others in the rest of Morocco received. She described a
painfully poor town in which large groups of women searched
trash cans every morning for food scraps. Another key demand
of the protesters was a better road connection to Guelmim and
Laayoune. The diplomat believed that this actually grew out
of a desire to take better advantage of smuggling networks
(one of the few sources of steady income in the area) into
and out of Algeria through Guelmim.

--------------
... And Tribal Tensions
--------------


11. (C) Sidi Ifni remained part of a Spanish colony until
the 1960s. The CMDH's Abdelmajid explained that the local
Berber tribe, Ait Baamran, had been one of the strongest
advocates for integration with newly independent Morocco, but
had since grown disillusioned as &Morocco passed Sidi Ifni
by.8 He said that the local population believes that the
country has been hijacked by a Fes-based Arab elite which
cares little for its &country cousins.8 Abdelmajid said
that local anger has grown in the past year as they have seen
increased sardine hauls but little local spill-over of
wealth. (Note: Sidi Ifni is one of the sites chosen for
participation in the Millennium Challenge Account. End Note.)

--------------
Implications for Press Freedom
--------------


12. (C) In the short-run, the biggest press casualty of
these events is Al-Jazeera, which "broke" the story with a
report of a dozen deaths caused by police. On June 15, the
GOM suspended beleaguered (Ref C) Al Jazeera Rabat Bureau
Chief Hassan al-Rachid's accreditation and charged him and
CMDH member Ibrahim Sebaa El Layl with conspiracy to spread
false information under article 42 of the press code. Both
men face up to one year in prison and/or a fine of up to MAD
100,000 (USD 13,000). In an interview with independent
French-language daily &Le Soir,8 Younes M'jahed, Secretary
General of the Moroccan press union condemned sanctions
against Rachidi, noting that Al Jazeera had already been
criticized in the local press, and had publicly retracted its
initial story. &Le Soir8 also carried an interview with
Communications Minister Khalid Naciri, who condemned Al
Jazeera's reporting, asserting that the network was fully
aware that its information about the deaths was false before
it chose to report it. He said Al-Jazeera was most culpable
because other organizations relied on the network for their
stories. Al-Jazeera continues to broadcast conflicting
reports on Sidi Ifni, and has responded to GOM requests for
an apology in a highly defensive manner.


13. (C) Two other local journalists who attempted to cover
the events were detained for several hours by security forces
in Sidi Ifni, during which time they claim that they and
their families were threatened with torture and sexual
assault. The journalists were eventually released,
apparently after intervention from Ministry of Interior
headquarters, but not before their photography equipment had
been smashed. The case of these two journalists was widely
reported in the local independent press.

--------------
Royal Eyebrows Raised
--------------


14. (C) We understand that, after the events, King Mohammed
VI summoned his security advisors (Interior Minister Benmousa
and some security agency heads) to see him in Paris (wher he
is on vacation) to explain what had happened. This may
suggest that he was not pleased with the results of the Sidi

RABAT 00000570 004 OF 004


Ifni action.

--------------
Comment
--------------


15. (C) Curiously, the protesters did not make price
increases a part of their list of complaints (in surprising
counterpoint to most recent protests and public concern
here). It is unclear, however, if the strong police reaction
to the events in Sidi Ifni was a deliberate attempt by the
Government to send a signal to the country that rampant
unrest which threatens economic stability will not be
tolerated. Clearly, the Government felt forced to react when
MAD 6 million worth of fish spoiled while trucks were trapped
inside the gates by the blockade. Some observers believe
that action could have been the result of influential
investors and business owners putting pressure on the
Government to resolve a local issue which, as a result of
police behavior, inadvertently became a national cause
celebre.


16. (C) Comment Continued: Sidi Ifni does raise questions of
how the government will maintain its commitment to respect
for human rights by police forces if violent unrest spreads.
Moroccan (mis)treatment of the press both during and after
the confrontations, as well as the role played by the
internet in shedding light on the events demonstrates the
limits to press freedom in Morocco, as well as difficulties
in controlling information using traditional authoritarian
methods in the age of YouTube and cell phone cameras. End
Comment.


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Riley