SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: VISIT OF SECRETARY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000852 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR NEA/PPD, NEA/MAG, NEA/PI AND DRL/NESCA LONDON FOR MOC DUBAI FOR PELLETIER E.0. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL OVIP PHUM KDEM KPAO EAID KMPI MO SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: VISIT OF SECRETARY OF STATE RICE TO MOROCCO, SEPTEMBER 6-7, 2008 RABAT 00000852 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Summary: Moroccan press coverage of Secretary Rice's September 6-7 visit to Morocco was principally factual and positive, focused on statements she made that the press described as supportive of the Moroccan perspective on Western Sahara negotiations. The Moroccan press also highlighted her stated support for Moroccan reform. A few newspapers viewed the Secretary's visit as an afterthought and doubted the USG would engage more robustly on Western Sahara. End summary. ¶2. The Moroccan press, both print and broadcast, provided substantial and sustained coverage of the Secretary's visit to Morocco, as well as her previous stops in Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. Local television provided lengthy, prime-time news coverage at the top of their broadcasts following the obligatory reports on royal activities; most print articles were placed on page one. Practically every word of the Secretary's remarks on Morocco made during her joint press conference with Moroccan Foreign Minister Fassi Fihri was widely quoted in the press. The coverage was principally factual, focused on two primary themes: -- Western Sahara: The press universally highlighted Secretary Rice's statement that "there are good ideas on the table, and we don't need to start over." This was widely portrayed in the local press as indicating support for Morocco's autonomy proposal as the basis for future negotiations. The Moroccan press took this as a positive signal that despite the recent end of UNSYG Personal Envoy for Western Sahara Peter Van Walsum's mandate, there would soon be a next round of negotiations, and that they would not have to start over from scratch, incorporating perspectives favorable to Morocco. -- Moroccan reform: Secretary Rice and Fassi Fihri both highlighted USG support for Morocco's reform agenda, as evidenced by the Millennium Challenge Account Compact signed last year. The press widely quoted the Secretary as saying, "Everyone has been impressed by the reforms that have been launched under His Majesty King Mohammed VI." The local press also highlighted Fassi Fihri's comments praising the success of the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement. ¶3. The limited commentary in the Moroccan print media focused on the sense that Secretary Rice's visit -- coming as it did so soon before the end of her mandate -- was made principally for protocol purposes. Some dailies averred that this was the reason the Secretary was not received by the King. Independent daily "Al Massae" stated the fact that the Secretary's visit came so late during her tenure demonstrated the lack of USG strategic interest in addressing the Western Sahara conflict, especially given oil and gas interests in Algeria, and concluded that the countries of the region had to rely on themselves to solve the conflict. Pro- palace daily "Le Matin" opined that, as a result of the Secretary's visit, she better understood the importance of resolving the Western Sahara conflict for rQional stability. Moroccan National Press Union head Younes M'Jahed argued in socialist party daily "Liberation" that the core tenets of U.S. foreign policy did not change much from administration to administration, and thus though the Secretary's visit appeared tactical, it was in fact strategic. ¶4. Independent daily "Aujourd'hui le Maroc" commented sarcastically on Secretary Rice's statement in Algiers that Algerian President Bouteflika was a "wise" man, arguing that his wisdom has not been in evidence in the way he has ruled Algeria. The newspaper wrote, "Closed borders, 33 years of a false fratricidal conflict, a Maghreb ideal that has been knocked off, a latent civil war, an eroded civil society, a despoiled economy, a political life that has been eradicated, etc. We do not see where the president's wisdom resides." RABAT 00000852 002.2 OF 002 ¶5. The local press also widely, although far less prominently, covered a sit-in on Sunday, September 7, in front of Parliament to protest the Secretary's visit. A communique distributed by a group of Moroccan non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participating in the protest said, "Legal activists staged [Sunday] a protest sit-in at the Parliament to condemn the U.S. Secretary of State's visit to Morocco and to make heard the voice of Moroccan civil society, [which] reject[s] U.S. foreign policy in the region, characterized by its absolute bias in favor of Israel, its aggressive policy against Arab and Muslim peoples, especially in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sudan and Somalia." (Comment: This same small group of NGOs periodically demonstrates against USG policies, and also promotes -- largely unsuccessfully -- a boycott of USG activities in Morocco. End comment.) Riley