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. -------------- 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. -------------- 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. -------------- 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