GOM CONCERNED ABOUT PROPOSED CHANGE TO UNSC

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000356 SIPDIS STATE FOR IO/UNP AND NEA/MAG E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2014 TAGS: PREL PBTS UNSC WI MO SUBJECT: GOM CONCERNED ABOUT PROPOSED CHANGE TO UNSC WESTERN SAHARA RESOLUTION REF: USUN 0434 Classified By: CDA Robert P. Jackson. Reason 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On April 28, MFA Chief of Staff and Director General for Multilateral Affairs Nasser Bourita raised with PolCouns GOM concerns about the evolving Western Sahara UNSC Resolution in New York. With only three non-permanent members not supporting basis draft circulated by the Friends, he saw no reason for such a change. ¶2. (C) Bourita said the GOM understood that a paragraph had been submitted by the UK with reference to the improving the human dimension in the Western Sahara, and it had heard that the USG was prepared to support this. This was distressing to Morocco which had decided not to ask for anything more than a repeat of last year,s resolution and had been told by senior interlocutors in Washington that such was the USG position. The adoption of such a paragraph would be portrayed by the Polisario and Algeria as a diplomatic victory for them and thus would undermine rather than promote progress in the negotiations. The GOM was strongly opposed. ¶3. (C) Bourita said that the GOM viewed the Polisario as its political interlocutor, but from a legal perspective, the Polisario had no role in guaranteeing human rights, as it was not a signatory to the relevant international conventions. Rather that role was in the hands of the Government of Algeria, which was a signatory and so responsible for the human rights situation in its territory. ¶4. (C) When pressed, Bourita said that at minimum, the GOM opposed a separate paragraph, which would be seen as a Polisario paragraph. Morocco could live with reference to a humanitarian rather than human dimension, a concept which had little meaning to the GOM. If some minor adjustment was necessary, it preferred that this be through an adjustment of a few words in an existing paragraph. ***************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Moro cco ***************************************** Jackson