Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09RABAT977
2009-12-15 16:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rabat
Cable title:  

WESTERN SAHARA: SAHRAWI ACTIVISTS CONCERNED ABOUT

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREF PREL UN MO WI 
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VZCZCXYZ0019
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #0977/01 3491647
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 151647Z DEC 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0944
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 0006
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0980
C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000977 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, IO/UNP, NEA/MAG, AND DRL/NESCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREF PREL UN MO WI
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: SAHRAWI ACTIVISTS CONCERNED ABOUT
AMINATOU HAIDAR AND INCREASED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

REF: A. RABAT 0908

B. RABAT 0915

C. RABAT 0935

D. RABAT 0941

E. RABAT 0849

Classified By: DCM Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000977

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, IO/UNP, NEA/MAG, AND DRL/NESCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREF PREL UN MO WI
SUBJECT: WESTERN SAHARA: SAHRAWI ACTIVISTS CONCERNED ABOUT
AMINATOU HAIDAR AND INCREASED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

REF: A. RABAT 0908

B. RABAT 0915

C. RABAT 0935

D. RABAT 0941

E. RABAT 0849

Classified By: DCM Robert P. Jackson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: In the wake of King Mohammed VI's stern
November 6 speech, Sahrawi pro-independence and human rights
activists report a tangible uptick in police harassment and
decreased tolerance for freedom of expression in Western
Sahara. They have refrained from organizing demonstrations
or rallies, in effect placing self-restrictions on their own
freedom of assembly. Pro-independence Sahrawi civil society
had greeted the appointment of Christopher Ross as the UNSG's
Personal Representative with optimism. However, the mood has
now changed to bitter disappointment, with the Aminatou
Haidar case and the GOM's reaction to it appearing to have
scuttled any chance for near- or medium-term resumption of
the UN process. Civil society activists also warn that if
Haidar were to die or become otherwise incapacitated, massive
Sahrawi demonstrations would spontaneously erupt -- and would
likely prompt a violent GOM response. Our contacts also
provided an update on the seven Sahrawi activists whom the
GOM arrested in October and who are now awaiting trial before
a military tribunal. While the specific details of the
Haidar case remain murky, we find our Sahrawi contacts' human
rights concerns -- and their fears of what might happen if
Haidar dies -- to be credible and worrisome. End Summary.


2. (SBU) PolCouns and PolOff traveled to Laayoune, Western
Sahara, and met with pro-independence Sahrawi activists and
human rights NGOs on December 8. Vice Chairman Brahim
Elansari represented the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights
Defenders (CODESA),in the absence of CODESA Chairwoman
Aminatou Haidar, who remains in the Canary Islands (reftels).
Djimi Elghalia, Vice-Chairwoman of the Sahrawi Association
of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations (ASVDH),hosted
the meeting at her home. Also present were ASVDH Chairman

Mustapha Dah, Mohamed Mayara, Dahha Rahmooni, Fadel Hairach,
Bachir Lahkfanoui, and Saltana Khaya, most of whom are
members of both ASVDH and CODESA.

--------------
The Negative Impact of the King's Speech
--------------


3. (C) Our interlocutors were unanimous in emphasizing that
King Mohammed VI's November 6 speech (on the anniversary of
the Green March -- Ref A) had tangibly damaged both the human
rights environment in Western Sahara and the prospects for
resuming UN-led negotiations. According to Elansari,
Sahrawis greeted the naming of UN Personal Envoy for the
Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, with optimism. However,
the king's speech -- in which he rejected a referendum to
allow Sahrawis to decide their own future and divided them
into "patriots" or "traitors" -- obstructed any positive
momentum. Elansari further interpreted the king's speech to
be an acknowledgment that the GOM's much-touted autonomy plan
was a failure, in that -- contrary to their repeated claims
-- it did not correspond to their desires for and vision of
self-determination. Other interlocutors agreed, adding that
the king's November speech gave further proof that the GOM
was not really interested in resolving the Sahara question
through the UN process. In one way, said Mayara, the king's
harsh rhetoric -- including his "racist" labeling of Sahrawis
as either patriots or traitors -- was welcome, in that it
demonstrated to the world the GOM's preference for the status
quo -- and its willingness to resort to repression in Western
Sahara to maintain it.

--------------
Human Rights Implications
--------------


4. (C) In addition to putting a chill on efforts to resolve
the Western Sahara standoff on the international level,
CODESA and ASVDH members stated that the king's speech had
also prompted a measurable uptick in repressive police
behavior towards independence activists. In the eyes of
Sahara-based security forces, the king's speech legitimized
increased suppression of Sahrawi activities and emboldened
local authorities to further repress freedom of speech and
assembly, Dah and Elghalia said. For example, they described
a recent event in which plain-clothed and uniformed police
came to Elghalia's home -- the very place we were sitting --
to break up a meeting between ASVDH members and Spanish

journalists, who had also sought to meet with Haidar's
children. In an unrelated incident, other journalists had
received approval for a meeting with CODESA from one
government entity, but police prevented the meeting, saying
that they now needed approval from additional local
authorities. Elansari conceded that, technically, foreign
journalists are required to receive approval from three
different Ministry of Interior (MOI) and/or local government
offices before meeting with pro-independence NGOs -- a
requirement he described as an abuse in and of itself.
However, prior to the king's Green March speech, police often
looked the other way if journalists had obtained at least one
authorization. Now, suddenly, the restrictions were being
enforced to the letter, our contacts said. They added that
in at least one of these cases foreign journalists were
ultimately expelled from Morocco, but they did not provide
further details.


5. (SBU) Our contacts also lamented an increased disregard
for freedom of assembly. Ever since a violent GOM crackdown
on a demonstration to mark International Human Rights day in
2006, Sahrawi activists had held no significant sit-ins or
other such public gatherings, Elansari said. Until recently,
he continued, this unofficial "self-imposed limitation" was
not based on a fear of GOM reprisal, but rather the result of
Sahrawis' simply having resigned themselves to fact that
local authorities never granted them the necessary legal
permits to hold public events. However, again in the wake of
the king's speech, there had been a change. For example,
Elansari and Elghalia reported, when Haidar's family and
various ASVDH and CODESA members gathered at the airport to
welcome her home in November, police met them at the airport
and demanded that they return home under threat of force or
arrest. Later, when the Spanish government attempted
unsuccessfully to send Haidar back to Laayoune aboard a
charter flight on December 4, at least one activist received
a threatening phone call from police, again warning him not
to organize any sort of gathering at the airport.

--------------
Aminatou Haidar: A Worse-Case Scenario
--------------


6. (SBU) Turning more specifically to the case of Aminatou
Haidar, Elghalia and others expressed grave concerns about
her health and disputed the official version of events we
have repeatedly heard from GOM sources (Refs B-D). CODESA
members insisted that Haidar did not renounce her passport,
and offered evidence to suggest that the authorities had
decided to expel her even before her plane landed.


7. (C) Unlike our GOM contacts, however, the Sahrawi
activists were less concerned about the technical and legal
aspects of the case and far more worried about the
"devastating" developments they believe would follow if
Haidar's hunger strike actually resulted in her dying or
becoming seriously incapacitated. In such an event, they
warned, thousands of Sahrawi activists would take to the
streets in spontaneous demonstrations that could involve
violence. Dah and Mayara noted that there existed a great
mass of Sahrawis who were not politically active and were
generally apathetic regarding the question of whether the
territory remained under Moroccan administration or became
independent. However, many of these same people view Haidar
as a human rights defender and a leader among the Sahrawi
tribes, they said, and their response to her passing would be
significant. They also predicted that the GOM's response to
any spontaneous outbursts would be firm, rapid and even more
violent.


8. (C) Outside of Moroccan-administered territory, Dah
continued, the Sahrawi response would be equally dramatic,
and her death would place significant pressure on the
Polisario to respond. In a best case scenario, he warned,
this would involve the Polisario rejecting the UN process for
an indeterminate period of time. At the worst, it could lead
to Polisario acts of war or other violence. While they
hesitated to otherwise predict events, all our interlocutors
all agreed that Haidar's public comments -- in which she has
stated that she planned on returning to Western Sahara "with
or without passport, dead or alive" -- should not be taken
lightly.

--------------
Update on the Seven Arrested Sahrawis
--------------


9. (SBU) ASVDH and CODESA representatives also provided us

an update on the seven pro-independence Sahrawi activists
arrested in October and charged with "intelligence
cooperation with a foreign entity" (Ref E). While they did
not accuse the GOM of committing gross human rights
violations against the seven, ASVDH and CODESA members held
that the case illustrated the GOM's newly restrictive and
intolerant attitude toward pro-independence activities. They
also offered some disturbing evidence to suggest that while
the GOM's treatment of the seven might be in keeping with the
letter of international human rights laws and standards, it
was not in keeping with the spirit. For example, while the
GOM has permitted all seven detainees family visits (as
required by Moroccan law),our contacts said that authorities
are permitting only one 15-minute visit per week -- something
not easily achieved for families in Laayoune who live 1,200
kilometers from the Sale prison, where the seven are
currently being held. Moreover, these visits are tightly
controlled, Elghalia said, and the prisoners were never are
allowed to talk privately to family members. Worse, the
seven have had access to a lawyer, but only once since their
arrests. In addition, Elghalia expressed particular concern
for Idagja Lachgar, the only female amongst the seven
arrested. Her family had reported that she was being held in
solitary confinement and was not reacting well to the
isolation.

--------------
Comment
--------------


10. (SBU) CODESA and ASVDH have a stated pro-independence
agenda and -- like our GOM contacts -- a clear political bias
that colors their interpretations of the Aminatou Haidar
case. Nevertheless, we find their wider allegations
regarding an uptick in repressive police response and the
curtailment of freedom of assembly to be credible and
sincere. Likewise, if the worst were to happen and Haidar
were to pass away, we do not doubt the likelihood of our
contacts' dire predictions regarding potential outbursts of
Sahrawi violence -- and an even more violent GOM response.
We will continue to urge restraint on all sides, but if the
GOM does not find a way to resolve the Haidar's case
peacefully and soon, our urgings could be in vain. End
Comment.


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