MOROCCO GRANTS TRAVEL DOCUMENTS TO WESTERN SAHARA

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000168

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR DRL/NESCA AND NEA/MAG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2020
TAGS: PHUM PREL PREF MO WI
SUBJECT: MOROCCO GRANTS TRAVEL DOCUMENTS TO WESTERN SAHARA
INDEPENDENCE ACTIVSTS

REF: A. RABAT 41

B. 09 RABAT 977

C. 09 RABAT 849

D. USUN 91

Classified By: Classified By Political Counselor Gregory Thome For Reas
ons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The GOM has returned previously
confiscated travel documents to 14 Sahrawi
activists. Upon receiving their passports, several
promptly departed for Algeria, ostensibly to see
relatives in the refugee camps near Tindouf but no
doubt also to consult with Polisario officials.
Western Sahara-based Sahrawi human rights activists
have suggested that the GOM timed the returns as a
calculated maneuver designed to mitigate Polisario
and Algerian criticism of Morocco's human rights
record at the informal UN discussions in Westchester
County. Nevertheless, the Embassy has frequently
raised the withholding of travel documents and other
GOM limitations on Sahrawis' freedom of movement with
the government as part of our ongoing human rights
dialogues, and we view the returns as a positive step.
END SUMMARY.

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High Profile Activists Again Free to Travel
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2. (SBU) Between February 10 and 22, Moroccan
authorities in the Western Sahara issued or returned
previously confiscated passports, national ID cards,
Spanish residency permits and cell phones to at least
twelve high-profile Sahrawi pro-independence and
human rights activists. On February 11, Djimi
Elghalia, Vice-Chairwoman of the Sahrawi Association
of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations (ASVDH)
was among the first activists to receive her passport
in Laayoune. The following day, officials in Dakhla
issued Aatik Brai a passport and returned his national
ID card, and also returned national IDs to Sahrawi
activists Dadach Mohamed, Messoud Larbi, Sbai Ahmed
and Ismaili Brahim. Also on February 12, authorities
issued a passport and returned a Spanish residency
permit to Khayya Sultana. Sultana's case had gained
particular notoriety among Moroccan, Sahrawi and
international human rights NGOs because of the fact
that she was suffering from a serious eye ailment --
which she alleged was inflicted by Laayoune-based
police (Ref A) -- that required medical attention
abroad. Upon receiving her documents, Sultana
immediately departed for Spain to consult with
her doctors.


3. (C) Surprisingly, authorities also issued a passport
for the first time in nearly 20 years to prominent
pro-independence advocate Brahim Sabbar. Sabbar spent
a total more than 10 years in Moroccan jails, and
Sahrawi celebrations to mark his most recent release,
in June 2008, were marked by violent confrontations
with police. International human rights NGOs frequently
cited Sabbar's case as an obvious GOM limitation on
Sahrawis' freedom of movement. In response to periodic
Embassy inquiries, GOM officials repeatedly noted that
Sabbar's case was "special" and that, under Moroccan
law, no passport could be issued because an arrest
warrant against him remained pending. In a December
2009 meeting with PolCouns, Sabbar confirmed that the
warrant was, indeed, the "official" explanation. However,
he noted sardonically, he had presented himself on more
than one occasion to authorities to demand that they
either issue him a passport or execute the arrest warrant;
until now, they had always politely declined to do either,
he reported.


4. (SBU) On Feb. 17, Sabbar again asked authorities in
Guelmin (a largely Sahrawi city that is actually north
of the "border" between Western Sahara and internationally
recognized Morocco) to issue him a passport. They
refused, and Sabbar responded by launching a hunger
strike in protest. On February 22, the GOM relented and
granted Sabbar his travel document.

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Why the Change of Heart?
--------------


5. (SBU) The GOM's rather abrupt decision to issue or

return travel document took many Sahrawi activists by
surprise. Our contacts in Laayoune, Dakhla and Guelmin
reported receiving phone calls from the local police --
and, in some cases, visits from plain-clothes officers --
asking them to present themselves at regional Ministry
of the Interior (MOI) offices to claim their passports
and/or other identification papers. In some cases,
authorities handed over new passports promptly based
on previous applications (some of which had been pending
for years),while in others the activists were told to
re-apply. Laayoune-based authorities and Sahrawis
have also reported having to wait for passports
confiscated in Casablanca or elsewhere to be delivered
to Western Sahara.


6. (C) Brahim Elansari, a Sahrawi activist closely
associated with Aminatou Haidar's NGO the Collective of
Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) told Poloff
by phone that he expected at least three additional
activists to receive their travel documents soon,
bringing the number of resolved cases to 14. This leaves
three cases remain unresolved, he noted. Interestingly,
Elansari -- who is often a vehement critic of the GOM's
efforts to prevent Sahrawis from traveling, noted that
in these cases Moroccan officials have been uncharastically
responsive. When asked why GOM officials experienced such
a sudden change of heart, Elansari and others have alleged
that the returns represented a political maneuver timed to
coincide with the informal, UN-sponsored Western Sahara
talks held February 9-10 in Westchester County under
the auspices of the UNSG's Personal Representative
Christopher Ross (Reftel D). The GOM expected the
Polisario and Algerian delegations to criticize Morocco's
human rights record in the territory, and sought to
mitigate those attacks, Elansari claimed. A senior
MFA official, for the GOM's part, stated simply that
the return of the passports was the result of normal
legal and administrative processes. MOI officials had
denied or delayed delivery of the documents; the courts
had ruled that those officials' decisions were incorrect
and that the passports should be delivered; and the
officials complied, he said.

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First Stop: Tindouf
--------------


7. (C) A number of activists who received their new or
renewed passports immediately scheduled trips to the Tindouf
refugee camps in Algeria, Elansari said. Sabbar was among
those who immediately traveled, ostensibly to see family
members -- but also, it appears, to meet with Polisario
leaders.


8. (C) COMMENT: We find credible our contacts' suggestion
that the return of the passports might have been timed to
influence the informal UN talks in Westchester County.
Whatever the case, we see the return of the Sahrawis'
documents as a significant, positive step. The Embassy
had frequently raised the withholding of travel documents
and other GOM limitations on Sahrawis' freedom of movement
with government officials as part of our ongoing human
rights conversations with the GOM, and we are pleased that,
for whatever reason, they have begun to respond. What
remains to be seen is how the GOM will respond to activists
-- especially high profile independence advocates like
Sabbar -- who openly traveled to Tindouf once they return.
END COMMENT.


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