DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL BISOGNIERO BRIEFS NATO

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000123 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RPM, NEA/RA AND NEA/MAG E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2020 TAGS: MARR PREL NATO MO SUBJECT: DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL BISOGNIERO BRIEFS NATO CHIEFS OF MISSION ON MEDITERRANEAN DIALOGUE Classified By: Ambassador Samuel L. Kaplan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: NATO Deputy Secretary General Bisogniero had a full day of meeting with Moroccan officials and diplomats from NATO countries on January 25. After opening an all-day seminar on the Mediterranean Dialogue, he met with the Minister of Interior, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, the Director General of the external intelligence service, Moroccan parliamentarians and diplomats. Bisogniero emphasized Morocco,s positive role in the Mediterranean Dialogue; foresaw a larger role for Morocco; requested that the next meeting of the NATO Policy Group take place in Morocco; and praised Morocco,s moderate role and policies, thanking Morocco for participating in K-FOR and Operation Active Endeavor (OAE). Bisogniero said Morocco wanted an official intelligence exchange program with NATO; wished to continue to increase the level of military-to-military cooperation; and deserved praise for hosting the November 2009 Intelligence Exchange Conference in which all seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries participated. End Summary. ¶2. (U) On January 25, following a day-long seminar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on the &Mediterranean Dialogue and the New NATO Strategic Concept: Seize the Momentum for a Boosting and Reinforcing the Dialogue,8 Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Deputy Secretary General, briefed NATO Chiefs of Mission resident in Rabat. ¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Bisogniero started the one-hour brief by covering the principal messages from NATO to the Moroccans presented during the seminar. He then discussed his three private meetings: with Moroccan Minister of Interior Taieb Cherkaoui; the Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR),&General de Corps d,Armee8 Abdelaziz Bennani; and the Director General of Morocco,s external intelligence agency (DGED) and de facto national security advisor, Mohammed Yassine Mansouri. Ambassador Bisogniero noted that these meetings had not been scheduled as part of the seminar and were a complete surprise to him. Additionally, he briefly commented on his meeting with Moroccan parliamentarians. -------------- Principal Messages -------------- ¶4. (C) Bisogniero summarized his principal messages as follows: -- NATO viewed Morocco as a leading country in the Mediterranean Dialogue; -- NATO desired to strengthen both political and military relations with Morocco; -- NATO requested that the next meeting of the NATO Policy Group take place in Morocco; and -- NATO praised Morocco,s moderate role and policies within the region and especially with regard to Morocco,s role in Kosovo (K-FOR) and its upcoming participation in Operation Active Endeavour (OAE). -------------- Being Practical -------------- ¶5. (C) Bisogniero said on a practical level that: -- Morocco was seeking an official Intelligence Exchange program with NATO; -- Both parties wished to continue to increase the level of military-to-military cooperation; -- 156 Moroccan officers participated in NATO events in 2009, a 112 percent from the previous year (Note: He may have meant Moroccan persons and not just officers. End Note.); -- Morocco deserved praise for hosting the November 2009 Intelligence Exchange Conference in which all seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries participated; -- NATO wanted Morocco to participate in civil affairs programs; -- NATO stressed the importance of the Individual Cooperation Program (ICP). Morocco wanted a signed ICP, similar to those of Jordan, Israel, and Egypt by February 2010; and -- NATO was drafting a new Strategic Concept, with a larger role for Morocco. -------------- Meetings with Moroccan Officials -------------- ¶6. (U) Ambassador Bisogniero briefly mentioned that in his meeting with Moroccan parliamentarians, he both noted, and asked for, a continuation of the increase in links between the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Moroccan Parliament. ¶7. (C) During Bisogniero,s meeting with Minister of Interior Taieb Cherkaoui, the Deputy Secretary General said the two had discussed the defined &Moroccan Area of Operations8 in relation to the security of the Sahel and the Sahara. The Minister stressed that the Sahel was the &rear base of the development of terrorism.8 He further stressed that Morocco was able to link drug trafficking to terrorism. (Comment: This is a relationship that the Mission has not/not been able to confirm in Morocco. End Comment.) Cherkaoui stressed Morocco,s eradication of 60,000 hectares of cannabis fields and its disruption of 2,300 illegal migrant networks. Ambassador Bisogniero asked that Morocco would increase participation in Civil Emergency Action Planning exercises. ¶8. (C) Ambassador Bisogniero spent the longest part of the hour discussing his meeting with the leader of the Moroccan FAR. He said General Bennani desired to increase military-to-military cooperation with NATO. General Bennani also discussed Moroccan peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, adding that Morocco would soon present its plan for a decrease in K-FOR operations as NATO withdrew in what was termed a &scale-down.8 General Bennani asked Ambassador Bisogniero for NATO,s scale-down plan before presenting Morocco,s plan. The two also discussed Morocco,s participation in Operation Active Endeavour (OAE). Ambassador Bisogniero noted that Morocco had signed the Tactical Memorandum of Understanding (T-MOU) on October 22, ¶2009. The next phase for Moroccan participation in OAE would be the certification of their ships -- probably in 2011. Morocco planned to deploy one of its two current Floreal class frigates to OAE, with plans that one of its newly acquired Sigma class frigates could deploy to OAE after 2013. Ambassador Bisogniero pointed out that the Moroccans did not raise the politically sensitive issue of participating in OAE alongside Israeli naval units. Ambassador Bisogniero said he had requested Moroccan participation in NATO,s 2011 Crisis Management Exercise (CMX) and asked that Morocco participate permanently in NATO,s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Relief Coordination Center (EADRCC). Finally, Ambassador Bisogniero asked if Morocco would provide training -- in Morocco -- to Afghan National Army and security forces. ¶9. (C) During the meeting with the Director General of Morocco,s external intelligence agency (DGED),Mohammed Yassine Mansouri, the Deputy Secretary General said the two men had discussed the enhanced intelligence cooperation since ¶2007. The Moroccan DGED formally requested that Morocco be linked into the NATO Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation System (BICES),a classified multi-nation intelligence exchange intranet. Ambassador Bisogniero replied that this would be difficult in that it would require unanimity among all 28 NATO members to authorize, plus Moroccan financing if authorization were approved. Mansouri replied that financing was not a problem. Ambassador Bisogniero invited Mansouri to Brussels for an upcoming Special Committee meeting of the intelligence services. ¶10. (SBU) In closing, Spanish Ambassador to Morocco Luis Planas Puchades stated that Spain and Morocco had recently established very strong ties regarding counter drug smuggling and counter clandestine migration. ***************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Moro cco ***************************************** KAPLAN