Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08RABAT66
2008-01-23 16:55:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rabat
Cable title:  

WESTERN SAHARA: ACTIVIST DESCRIBES HOPE AND

Tags:  PHUM PREL PBTS WI MO 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #0066/01 0231655
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 231655Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8040
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0769
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 4636
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3500
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 5882
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 3637
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4902
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 9471
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 3832
C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000066 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG AND DRL/NESCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2018
TAGS: PHUM PREL PBTS WI MO
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: ACTIVIST DESCRIBES HOPE AND
FRUSTRATION IN TERRITORY

REF: 07 RABAT 1873

Classified By: DCM Robert Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000066

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG AND DRL/NESCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2018
TAGS: PHUM PREL PBTS WI MO
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: ACTIVIST DESCRIBES HOPE AND
FRUSTRATION IN TERRITORY

REF: 07 RABAT 1873

Classified By: DCM Robert Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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


1. (C) Pro-independence Sahrawi human rights activist Brahim
Dahane (strictly protect) told us there is a sense among
Sahrawis, even in separatist circles, that something
potentially positive is coming out of the Manhasset process.
He hotly disputed Government of Morocco (GOM) attempts to
liken separatists to Islamist terrorists like Al Qaeda.
Dahane complained that the GOM was harassing his NGO,
especially members with technical skills like web site
management. He described growing contacts with Moroccan
human rights groups. He said Sahrawi civil society (on all
sides) is determined to move forward on development,
regardless of the political direction of the Sahara dispute.
End Summary.

--------------
Hope and Anger Over Manhasset
--------------


3. (C) On January 16, PolCouns and PolOffs met with
President of the Sahrawi Association of Human Rights Abuse
Victims (ASVDH) Brahim Dahane (strictly protect throughout)
at the Embassy. Dahane, who bills himself (credibly) as more
human rights advocate than political activist, does not
disguise his pro-separatist tendencies and contacts with the
senior POLISARIO leadership. He met with POLISARIO
Chief/Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) President
Abdelaziz last October in Rome. He said that there is a
general initial agreement in the territory that engagement
through the Manhasset process is a good thing, but
pro-independence activists are reserving judgment on their
long-term utility in achieving gains. They are willing to
trust the process a little while longer, but want to see
concrete results soon. He said that pro-independence
Sahrawis have not given up hope, but feelings are beginning
to harden around a need for new tactics--to include some
violence in the form of sabotage.

--------------
POLISARIO Congress was Symbolic
--------------


4. (C) Dahane said the December POLISARIO Congress in

Tifarity was an important symbolic morale boost and,
paradoxically, gave the independence movement renewed desire
to continue the negotiation process. Prior to the Congress,
Dahane said, the POLISARIO felt painted into a corner by a UN
process perceived as biased towards Morocco. They felt that
40 years of legal decisions and resolutions had been turned
on their head by the international community's rapid
acceptance of Morocco's initiative, and that decades of
peaceful diplomacy by the Front had only lost them ground.
After the Congress, held in disputed territory and
characterized by bellicose rhetoric, Dahane said that many
independence activists believed that the POLISARIO had "made
its point" about not being taken for granted and tilted the
scales of influence back towards itself. As a result, the
movement returned to the negotiating table with renewed
confidence and vigor.

--------------
Yes, Talk of a Return to Arms, But...
--------------


5. (C) Dahane cautioned the USG against reacting too
strongly to the POLISARIO's recent statements about a return
to armed struggle. He said that the movement modeled itself
after the African National Congress and that massive,
disruptive civil disobedience and targeted sabotage attacks
on critical infrastructure were more part of its toolkit now
than open war. He disputed GOM "propaganda" that painted the
POLISARIO and independence activists as terrorists and
violent extremists. He mentioned a recent incident in which
a couple of grenades were found outside Laayoune (possibly
dating to the 1980s). He said that the GOM created a media

circus around the find and implied that they were part of a
separatist weapons cache.


6. (C) Dahane vehemently argued that the independence
movement had absolutely nothing to do with pan-Arab terror
groups such as Al Qaeda. He said that the POLISARIO and
independence activists still bitterly resent the Gulf states
financing of Morocco's war against the Sahrawis during the
1970s and 1980s.

--------------
Human Rights Struggle Continues...
--------------


7. (C) Dahane described a continuing and increasingly
focused campaign of harassment and oppression waged by the
GOM against both pro-independence and human rights activists
in the territory. He said that the GOM is now targeting
pro-independence NGOs' ability to communicate their message
to the outside world by targeting leaders responsible for
website publishing and editing. He pointed to the late
December arrests of Brahim Ansari, Mohammed Mayoz and Said
Bellal, all three specifically responsible for maintaining
the ASVDH's flagship website, as an example of this new
tactic. Dahane also mentioned a case in October in which a
commercial photography shop in the territory that had
developed pictures of injuries allegedly suffered by Sahrawi
activists at GOM hands was pressured by security officials to
disclose the names of the customers who had provided the
negatives. He said that the strategy was having an effect,
as Sahrawis were less inclined to take to the streets now
than they had been in the past.


8. (C) Dahane was in Rabat to attend the trial of Sahrawi
activist Said Bellal, arrested in Smara in December 2007 on
disorderly conduct charges following a demonstration. He was
subsequently charged with leading student demonstrations in
Rabat in May 2007, which is why he was being charged here.
Bellal's defense team, led by former vice president of the
Moroccan Bar Association Mohammed Aqdim, argued that the
statute of limitations for Bellal to be charged "in
flagrante" for a crime allegedly committed in May had long
expired. Additionally, Dahane said that police statements
retroactively placing Bellal at the scene of the
demonstrations were patently false.

-------------- --
...But a Strong Civil Society Must be Developed
-------------- --


9. (C) Dahane further criticized the GOM for refusing to
allow Sahrawi NGOs like ASVDH and the Sahrawi Collective of
Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) to register. Without
registration, such groups are unable to accept foreign and
domestic project funding or training and cannot advocate
legally within the system for change, nor can they legally
engage other NGOs in an attempt to develop "Track Two"
solutions through civil society engagement on both sides of
the berm.


10. (C) Dahane said that ASVDH had been offered support by
groups in Denmark and Egypt to counsel and rehabilitate
torture victims, but could not implement any projects due to
its lack of legal standing. Dahane insisted that his and
other Sahrawi organizations stand ready to work with any
NGOs, separatist or pro-Morocco, to build a better future for
all in the territory regardless of negotiation outcomes - but
the GOM's current policy of preventing the development of a
truly balanced civil society was hampering grass roots
peace-building efforts.

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


11. (C) Dahane is generally perceived as a credible
interlocutor who avoids sensationalism. While an unabashed
independence supporter who says the POLISARIO speaks for him,
he remains independent, unlike the other main Sahrawi human
rights organization, CODESA, which sometimes appears subject
to POLISARIO direction. His comments about a need to build a
strong civil society as a hedge against violence and to

facilitate transition mesh with what we have heard from our
Sahara-based NGO contacts, both separatist and pro-Morocco -
as does his plea for international capacity building
assistance (reftel). End Comment.


*****************************************
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat
*****************************************

Riley