WESTERN SAHARAN STUDENTS IN MOROCCO: BITING THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CASABLANCA 000079

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM MO
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARAN STUDENTS IN MOROCCO: BITING THE
HAND THAT FEEDS

REF: A. CASABLANCA 44

B. 2008 RABAT 1201

Classified By: Consul General Millard for reasons 1.4 b and d


1. (C) SUMMARY: Students from the Western Sahara
seeking higher education have no choice but to
attend university far from home in Morocco. These
students, the future leaders of the Saharan
political society, cut their teeth on politics in
the radicalized and at times violent world of
university politics. The government of Morocco
(GOM) deals harshly with any pro-independence
demonstrations and has used a heavy hand to control
such activities. Nearly all of the students are
pro-independence and their experiences as outsiders
in Moroccan society appear to have only reinforced
their rejection of a future integrated with Morocco.
END SUMMARY.

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Violence at the Universities
--------------


2. (C) Sahrawi (Western Saharan) students described
to poloff a political environment on university
campuses that is highly radicalized and punctuated
by frequent demonstrations which at times result in
violent clashes with the security services and the
arrest of students. Three Sahrawi students held at
Boulmehrez prison in Marrakech have been on hunger
strike since February 11. Hassana Abba (protect),a
leader of Sahrawi student activists at Cadi Ayyad
University in Marrakech, told poloff that at present
there are five Sahrawi students in Marrakech's
prison most of whom were arrested for participation
in demonstrations in late May and early June of

2008.


3. (C) "May is like a war at the university," said
Abba, commenting on the number of demonstrations
organized in that month by both Leftist and Sahrawi
student groups. The Sahrawi students inevitably
hold demonstrations on May 10, the anniversary of the
foundation of the POLISARIO and May 20, the
commemoration of the POLISARIO's first armed action
against the GOM. In May of 2007 a young female
student in Marrakech, Sultana Khaya, lost an eye as
a result of a blow to the head by the security
forces during a pro-POLISARIO demonstration.
Moreover, in December of 2008, a student was killed
during clashes with the police in Marrakech. Human
rights organizations and students alleged that the
victim was thrown from the fourth floor of a
building by the police.


4. (C) In May of 2007, Mehdi Ali Ndour (protect),a
doctoral candidate in law at the Mohammed V
University in Rabat, was arrested for participating
in a pro-independence rally on the university
campus. He told poloff that he and nine others were
held incommunicado for 52 hours and were repeatedly
beaten, threatened, and mistreated. Ndour was later
sentenced to eight months in prison, of which he
served four, for belonging to an illegal
organization and participating in an illegal
gathering.


5. (C) Frances McCue, an American Professor on a
Fulbright Fellowship teaching at the university in
Marrakech, described to poloff the political
discourse of student groups as, "militant, wooden
and prone to rote speeches of a very shallow
nature." The demonstrations, she said, are frequent
and extremely disruptive. She also recounted how
during a protest one student leader entered her
classroom without permission, stood with his back to
her, and gave a speech demanding that the students
come out and participate. There is a lot of
bullying and coercion of the students, she noted.

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Campus Politics:
--------------


6. (C) Politics at the university are reflective,
though more radicalized, of some of the competing
ideological currents in Moroccan society. While the
overwhelming majority of students are disinterested

and actively avoid politics (Ref. A),a core of
militant students, composed primarily of Islamists
and Leftists, account for most political activity.
Rachid Filali, the Governor of Agadir, told the
Consul General in a March meeting that among the
approximately thirty thousand students at Ibn Zohr
University he believed no more than 800 were
responsible for the violence and demonstrations. He
maintained that his administration plans to take a
zero-tolerance approach to student protests and has
begun to install closed-circuit television cameras
on campuses.


7. (SBU) Mainstream political parties and their
youth wings are conspicuously absent from the
universities. Official politics at the universities
have been controlled since independence by the
National Union of Moroccan Students (Union National
des Etudiantes Marrocaines or UNEM). The UNEM,
which began as an umbrella of nationalist and
leftist groups, later became a vehicle for the
aspirations of other student movements. In the
1970s, the Marxist-Leninists dominated UNEM and by
the early 1990s Islamists from the banned Adl wa Al
Ihsan (Justice and Spirituality - AWI) movement of
Sheikh Abdesalam Yassine had fully co-opted the
organization. The UNEM, controlled by AWI, is
widely recognized to be the dominant political force
at the universities today.


8. (SBU) The legal Islamist opposition Justice and
Charity Party (PJD) maintains a small presence on
campuses through the Attajdid Attoulabi organization
(Student Renewal). On the left, there are numerous
splinter groups within the Marxist-Leninist movement
of Annahj Addimocrati (The Democratic Way). This
student group has the unfortunate name Annahj
Addimocrati Al Qaeda (The Base of the Democratic
Way) and its supporters are popularly referred to by
students as Al Qaedi'een. In addition, there are
the ethnically-based Amazigh (Berber) Cultural
Movement and the Sahrawi Students.

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Discrimination: "We Stand Apart"
--------------


9. (C) While most Sahrawi students lauded their good
relations with ordinary Moroccans both inside and
out of the university, others described living in
fear and apprehension from nationalist groups and
ordinary people. Youssef Charkawi (protect),a
third year law student at Mohammed V University in
Casablanca, recounted how he and a small group of
other Sahrawi students were forcibly expelled from
the student dormitories a few months after their
arrival during their first year. Charkawi claimed
that a gang of fellow students attacked and beat
them, allegedly at the behest of the security
forces, for their pro-independence views, and threw
them out of their government subsidized housing.
After two days of living on the streets and failing
to find remedy with the university administration,
they moved into more costly housing outside of the
campus. "We have to be careful to not speak in the
Saharan dialect," said Charkawi. "Once while riding
the bus, people overheard me speaking to my brother.
They started harassing us and asking why we made so
many problems for Morocco."

--------------
Student Numbers:
--------------


10. (C) All of the Sahrawi students pointed to the
violent clashes at the Mohammed V University in
Rabat during May of 2005 as a watershed year for
Sahrawi students. The students' pro-Polisario
demonstrations and subsequent crackdown and arrests
garnered international press attention and startled
GOM authorities. According to Ndour and others, the
GOM began moving Sahrawi students to universities in
the south especially Agadir and Marrakech to spread
out their numbers and reduce their presence in the
capital. One student speculated that the GOM is
intentionally placing greater numbers of Sahrawis
students in Agadir because it has the largest
concentration of Berber student activists who, with
their ethnic-based claims for greater rights, are

antagonistic towards the Sahrawis.


11. (C) Ndour reported that in 2005 there were more
than 700 Sahrawi students in Rabat where as now the
number is approximately 120. The total number of
Sahrawi students studying in universities is
estimate by students to be between four and six
thousand. Hassana Abba, who is involved in
organizing the students, reported there are 900 in
Marrakech, 5 in Fez, 12 in Tetouan, approximately 25
in Tangier, and between two and three thousand in
Agadir. Charkawi reported approximately 90 to 100
in Casablanca.

--------------
Is It Worth the Money?
--------------


12. (SBU) A recent magazine article asked the
unusually provocative question of whether Morocco's
expenditures in the Western Sahara, estimated to be
more than three percent of GDP or approximately 2.5
Billion US dollars, are truly worth the price. The
article also detailed the substantial subsidies of
food, fuel and other basic commodities enjoyed by
Saharan residents. While stories of corrupt
officials earning their fortune in the Sahara are
not new, the view that Saharan residents enjoy
unfair government largesse is becoming more
widespread among Moroccans.


13. (C) Conversation with a range of Moroccans
revealed that many are under the impression that
Sahrawi students receive free housing, free
transport, extra financial assistance, and have a
guaranteed government job upon graduation. Recent
events, including a demonstration in Agadir over
seat space on an inter-city bus which resulted in
the death of two Saharawi students in August of
2008, have only helped to reinforce this idea. (Ref.
B)


14. (C) Sahrawi students refute the notion that they
received special treatments. Apart from a
government-paid bus ticket home for the holidays and
summer break, the students have the same benefits as
any low income Moroccan student. They receive a
living stipend of $140 US dollars every three month
and access to subsidized housing and food on campus.


15. (C) Inherent in many of the criticisms of
special treatment is the idea that Sahrawi students,
despite the generosity of the GOM, continue to
reject Moroccan sovereignty and "bite the hand that
feeds." Asked if he had any misgivings about this
situation, Charkawi responded, "What choice do I
have" Here (Morocco) is where there is a university
and work. If I have to work here, I will still give
my money, my time, and my blood to help the
(independence) cause."

--------------
Independence vs. Autonomy
--------------


16. (C) The Sahrawi students universally rejected
the possibility of working with the GOM under its
proposal for autonomy. Ahmed Sbai (protect),a
doctoral candidate in political science at Mohammed
V University in Rabat, said there is no trust among
the Sahrawis for autonomy. "We know the GOM," he
continued, "we have seen and experienced this
government for three decades and their word is no
good. We (the Moroccan-Saharan people) share so
much, but the problem is how they have implemented
their policies on us since 1973."


17. (C) Other students also rejected an integrated
future with Morocco regardless of the obstacles
presented by independence. "We want independence,
even if it means living in poverty," said Charkawi.
"We were poor before, we are still poor now. So
what does it matter if we are poor in the future?"
Hassana Abba was visibly angered by the suggestion.
"Autonomy? In the Sahara we now live in the biggest
prison on earth." he said.


18. (C) COMMENT: The most notable part of speaking
with the Sahrawi students is their complete

rejection of integration with Morocco and their
resolute conviction that independence is the only
solution. While most students arrive with their
politics already set, it is also clear that their
time in the Moroccan universities solidifies their
opposition to the GOM. The Western Sahara issue
within the domestic political discourse remains
largely a taboo and the GOM still employs the
sterile sloganeering of past decades. If the GOM
were serious about the compromise it has proposed
under the autonomy, it would do well to begin a more
active dialogue with students and other Saharan
leaders on the ground rather than try to address the
issue only through international diplomacy.
MILLARD