WESTERN SAHARA: ACTIVIST CONFIRMS HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000584 NOFORN SIPDIS STATE FOR DRL/NESCA, NEA/MAG AND IO/UNP E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2034 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL WI MR MO SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: ACTIVIST CONFIRMS HUMAN RIGHTS IMPROVEMENTS, NOTES POLITICAL EVOLUTION Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1 .4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Fresh news borne by a Sahrawi-American activist confirms other reports that the human rights situation in the Western Sahara continues to stabilize; serious violations are not occurring; and there seems to be somewhat more open political space. This was also observed by Rabat)resident European diplomats, who recently met with both Moroccan officials and pro-independence human rights activists. Our contact told us that recently, more known police abusers have been transferred out, and those left behind increasingly behave themselves. A Sahrawi local MOI official confirmed the transfers and indicated the Government was looking at additional steps to open up. The Embassy has pushed for such actions in our Human Rights Dialogue. We assess that the Moroccans can now be persuaded to continue their opening, and in the current environment think it worth trying. Our contact said pro-self determination Sahrawis on both sides of the berm were looking to a favorable evolution of USG policy away from support for the autonomy plan. End Summary. -------------- -------------- A Simultaneously Sahrawi and American Perspective -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C/NOFORN) On July 7, PolCouns and D/PolCouns met with U.S.-Moroccan dual national and Sahrawi activist Saleh el-Bachra (strictly protect) to discuss current events in the Sahara. Bachra, who has worked for the U.S. military, is well plugged into -- and has supported from the U.S. -- the pro-self-determination human rights activists in the territory, where all his family lives. In his biannual or annual visits to Embassy he has been a generally credible reporter and most of what he has told us has panned out. He said the Sahrawis in Western Sahara, southern Morocco, Tindouf, Mauritania, and the diaspora living abroad are well acquainted with each other. Security officials had kept him under surveillance but not harassed him. -------------- -------------- Sahara is Quiet -- Human Rights Situation Improving -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Bachra said that the Sahara has been quiet lately. He confirmed what we have heard from other sources that serious human rights violations, like unlawful arrests or beatings, have essentially ceased in the territory. He reported that activists confirmed to him that in recent weeks numerous additional security personnel have been transferred out of Western Sahara to locations all over Morocco. These include most, but not all, of the well-known human rights violators in the security forces. The Police Prefect (i.e., a Wali-level official responsible for police throughout Western Sahara and Morocco,s most southern provinces -- not just the Laayoune region) was also transferred. Authorities have effectively disbanded the infamous "Firqa al mawt" or "Brigade of Death," an appellation going back to the days of mortal repression under King Hassan II. Replacements apparently have very clear instruction not to act abusively. Bachra recounted one incident where well known human rights violator Aziz Annouche (still there) hauled in a youth for some protest, slapped him, and released him. This is a far cry from harsher practices in the relatively recent past, he said. ¶4. (C) The police transfers, which we had not heard about, were confirmed to PolCouns by a high ranking local Ministry of Interior (MOI) official. The official, himself a Sahrawi, also told us that the Wali recently wrote the MOI asking for permission to legally register the non-governmental organization (NGO) the Sahrawi Association of Human Rights Victims (ASVDH). ¶5. (C) Bachra said this laissez-faire atmosphere was particularly evident during the hard-fought campaign for the June 12 local elections. Pro-Polisario activists held a demonstration just before election day in the Sahrawi neighborhood of Matala to promote the Polisario,s call for a boycott of the local elections. They carried some Polisario banners and shouted slogans. Police were present in force, but in a near unprecedented fashion, did nothing. The Polisario boycott fizzled, with Sahrawis turning out in force to re-install CORCAS president Kalihenna Ould er Rachid and his family in control of the Laayoune City Hall. (Note: Some half of Western Sahara's population lives there, more than double the population of the refugee camps. End Note.) -------------- -------------- Tribes Turn Out High Local Election Participation -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Bachra said the local elections were mostly about tribal affiliations. Turnout in the Western Sahara and in the south was higher than the rest of Morocco and double that in Casablanca. Bachra said that part of the reason that voter participation rates in Sahara were among the highest "in the country" was because many pro-independence Sahrawi,s are trying to facilitate political changes regarding the independence of Western Sahara from within the existing mechanism of local government. In any case, he confirmed others, observations that the Sahrawis voted mostly along tribal lines, with voters from the dominant Rguibat tribe split along clan lines between the Ould er Rachid family and the Joumani clan, with the Constitutional Union (UC),an out-of-government party traditionally associated with pro-palace urban political machines. Bachra reported that on the night that election results were announced, there was a riot between supporters of Ould er Rachid and Joumani. (Note: A Joumani gained control of Dakhla, despite not being from the dominant local tribe, the Ouled Dhlim. End Note.) ¶7. (C) Bachra noted that victories of both families and of Hassan Derham, another wealthy Sahrawi, who won on the USFP ticket from the port area, meant that efforts to plant Fouad Ali El Himma,s Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) were crushed, winning no seats in Laayoune itself. The PAM did succeed in organizing opposition to Kalihenna to join forces in the council vote for mayor, but they fell short by three votes. This is widely viewed as a failed attempt by the Palace to move Kalihenna aside from the Sahara negotiations. The Wali of Laayoune region, i.e., a MOI-nominated Royal Governor, new this year, is perceived as close to El Himma. (Note: Wali Mohammed Jalmous did postpone the mayoral vote for a few days, a move foiled when the Ould er Rachid spirited their supporters to some desert hideaway. End Note.) Nonetheless, the foes of the Ould er Rachid, many from the minority Izerguine tribe, won in the areas surrounding Laayoune city; so the leadership of the councils of the province and of Laayoune region still remained in play. The PAM,s major success was in Samara, where party leader Mohammed Sheikh Biadillah, from yet another Rguibat clan, was elected deputy mayor. ¶8. (C) A Swedish diplomat who just returned from her first visit to the territory with a Belgian counterpart (another ground-breaking diplomatic visit carried out with our encouragement) had told us earlier in the week that Polisario sympathizers defied their own boycott to vote, many for the Ould er Rachid, because, according to one, "as corrupt as they are, they stood up to Rabat,s machinations." They also heard from local activists that abuses have ceased, but intensive police presence continues as do restrictions on speech and assembly. They described the overall situation in the territory as unexpectedly calm. -------------- Sahrawis Confident in U.S. Policy Shift -------------- ¶9. (C) Bachra said the many Sahrawis inclined toward referendum/independence were hoping for changes in U.S. policy toward the Western Sahara under the Obama Administration. Expectations are running high because of what is being perceived as a new U.S. tilt toward referendum/independence and away from U.S. support for Morocco's "autonomy plan," he said. The diplomatic visitors also saw this as a factor in the recent calm. -------------- -------------- Mauritania Unlikely to Play a Part in Sahara Solution -------------- -------------- ¶10. (C) Bachra said that he could not see a major role being played by the Mauritania in the peace negotiations on Western Sahara among Morocco, the Polisario and Algeria. He said that Mauritania actually benefits from the status quo of an incomplete peace. He said that many Sahrawis carry Mauritanian passports and can travel freely in Mauritania. Pro-self determination Sahrawis are numerous in Mauritania and have settled in places like the village of Zouarate Sahrawi. The Mauritanian Government and locals welcome the Sahrawi presence because Sahrawis have a reputation for honest business. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶11. (C) We believe this is solid confirmation of the continued improvement of human right situation in the territory, as documented in Embassy submission to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, and updates the 2008 report. Transfer of abusers away from the Sahara, where many have been stationed for years has been a key objective of our human rights dialogue. (Note: They remain on our Leahy vetting watch list. End Note.) It tends to fit in with Morocco's post-"years of lead8 approach to transitional justice as signaled by the Instance for Equity and Reconciliation (IER),which compensated victims but did not name abusers. We have lobbied for over a year for the recognition of the ASVDH, which has won in court and on appeal an order for the Government to recognize it. Additional quiet Embassy/USG advocacy at the strategic level might help move forward this next step toward the political opening that may be Morocco's best bet to enhance its prospects for an acceptable political solution. The improvement of human rights situation in the Western Sahara brings it closer to, but not yet quite equal with the situation in Morocco, where there is greater freedom of the press and of expression, but where the recent trend has not been so favorable. End Comment. ***************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Moro cco ***************************************** Jackson