MOROCCAN PERM REP EMPHASIZES WESTERN SAHARA RED

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000780

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2018
TAGS: PBTS PGOV PREL UNSC WI MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCAN PERM REP EMPHASIZES WESTERN SAHARA RED
LINES, CRITICIZES ALGERIA

Classified By: Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Moroccan Permanent Representative Ambassador
Mostafa Sahel met with Poloff on August 26 to discuss
regional issues and the future of negotiations on Western
Sahara. Sahel emphasized Rabat's persistence in trying to
broaden diplomatic and economic ties with Algiers, which
according to him, Algiers always rebuffed. On the issue of
Western Sahara, Sahel said Algeria was solidly behind the
Polisario, which he characterized as an Algerian armed group
operating in Moroccan territory. Although reiterating Rabat's
red line of no independence for the region, Sahel noted that
Rabat's autonomy proposal was a good starting point, and
welcomed the Polisario to amend the proposal to accomodate
the wishes of the Sahrawi people as long as independence was
not included. In a separate meeting with Ambassador DiCarlo
the following day, Sahel said the non-rewewal of Peter Van
Walsum's contract as the Secretary General's Personal
Envoy--who claimed that an independent Western Sahara was not
realistic--was an embarrassment for King Mohammed VI. END
SUMMARY.



2. (C) On August 26, Poloff met with Moroccan Perm Rep
Ambassador Mostafa Sahel to discuss regional issues,
specifically Morocco's position vis-a-vis Algeria, and
Morocco's position regarding the next round of negotiations
with the Polisario on Western Sahara. Sahel was unflinching
in his criticism of Algeria's leaders. He said Algeria was
stuck in the past, that its leaders were aged, and that
despite the rest of the world moving forward with economic
liberalization, Algeria stagnated in statist policies and
lack of diversification. Sahel praised Rabat's efforts for
trying to broaden diplomatic relations with Algiers, focusing
most of its efforts on reopening the border to trade. He said
that despite the fact that Algeria needs the economic
relationship more than Morocco, it was Algeria that refused
to entertain greater ties. According to Sahel, Algiers could
claim no good relationship with any of its neighbors.


3. (C) On the issue of Algerian involvement in Western
Sahara, Sahel said, "There is no Polisario without Algeria,"
and claimed the Polisario was nothing but "an armed wing of
Algeria operating in Morocco." He questioned how Polisario
representatives could travel the world and vacation in exotic
places without Algerian funding. To reiterate his point of
Algeria's control of the Polisario, Sahel said that he had
attended the previous four rounds of negotiations between
Morocco and the Polisario in Manhasset and said that
Polisario negotiators would excuse themselves from the talks
to ostensibly receive instructions from their Algerian
counterparts sitting outside the negotiation room.


4. (C) When asked by Poloff if Rabat was ready to make
concessions on its autonomy proposal to accomodate the
Polisario's wishes, Sahel firmly stated that Rabat was open
to suggestions and was eager to accept changes to the text.
When Poloff assessed that the reason behind the Polisario's
reluctance to endorse the autonomy proposal was because it
did not offer an option for independence, Sahel repeatedly
and unequivocally stated that independence was not an option.
He added that the Polisario's insistence on independence was
the sole reason why the process had not moved forward.


5. (C) Sahel described the Polisario's leadership as
fascists who loathed free and open elections. He said
Polisario President Abdulaziz "had an empty head" and
Polisario representative in New York Boukhari was "the most
radical of them all."


6. (C) Poloff relayed the broad support the Security Council
had for a fifth round of negotiations this fall and that the
USG, France, and Spain had all asked the Secretary General to
move quickly to name a special envoy to lead the
negotiations. Asked if Rabat would agree to a fifth round
this fall, Sahel was non-committtal, probably because he did
not know who the envoy would be, but he was amenable. Sahel
said he was pleased with the negotiations held thus far under
UN auspices.


7. (C) Sahel the following day met with Ambassador DiCarlo
and conveyed that King Mohammed VI faced embarrassment
because, despite his support for Special Envoy Peter Van
Walsum, Van Walsum's contract was not being renewed. The
public perception, according to Sahel, was that the Polisario
gained the upper hand in the negotiations with its
intransigence against Van Walsum. Sahel said he learned from
UN Undersecretary Lynn Pascoe that Ambassador Chris Ross
would named to succeed Van Walsum. Since the King's stature


will be sullied with the Polisario's perceived "win," Sahel
pressed for the USG to emphasize that a Ross appointment as
envoy marked a continuation of Van Walsum's work and should
not a change in the UN's approach to the talks.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) Sahel's comments are consistent with Rabat's
statements on Western Sahara. His emphasis on Algeria rather
than the Polisario reflect his view that solving the Western
Sahara impasse must involve engagement with Algeria. Sahel
praised the work of the United States in trying to solve this
issue and hinted that direct USG involvement would be
welcomed. Although delinking the parties from the UN process
might take some prodding, working-level officials at UN
Department of Political Affairs have expressed their desire
to hand the Western Sahara issue over to a third party to
mediate if doing so would move the process toward a
successful conclusion. Nonetheless, Sahel, almost certainly
reflecting the opinions of Moroccan leadership, appeared
pleased with the UN process thus far. END COMMENT.
Wolff