US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS1243

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001243 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PBTS, PHUM, AG, MO, WI, Algeria-Morocco Relations, Polisario 
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN RESPONSE TO MOROCCAN STATEMENT CANCELING 
PM MEETING IN RABAT 
 
SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
-------------------- 
 
1.  (C) Initial Algerian government reaction to Morocco's 
cancellation of the June 21-22 meeting of the Algerian and 
Moroccan prime ministers in Rabat has taken the form of 
comments to the press by unidentified "diplomatic sources 
close to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."  These sources, 
whose comments were carried in the official government daily 
El-Moudjahid as well as other papers, termed the Moroccan 
decision an "about-face;" reaffirmed Algeria's long-standing 
readiness to develop bilateral ties with Morocco; cited 
Algeria's willingness to proceed with the Rabat meetings, 
despite orchestrated Moroccan press attacks against Algeria, 
as evidence of Algerian goodwill; and pointedly noted that 
Algeria has always been "present" for the construction of the 
Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). 
 
2.  (C) More problematically, the diplomatic sources also 
referred to "the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to 
self-determination and independence" -- the same provocative 
formulation that triggered Mohammed VI's decision not to 
attend the AMU Summit, Libya's postponement of the Summit, a 
series of inflammatory press stories in both the Algerian and 
Moroccan press, and heightened sensitivities on all sides. 
While the use of this language in President Bouteflika's May 
21 congratulatory letter to the Polisario might have been the 
result of sloppy drafting and clearance procedures, the 
repetition of this buzzword formulation in the wake of 
Morocco's abrupt (and in Algerian eyes insulting) 
cancellation of Prime Minister Ouyahia's visit to Rabat was 
intentional and perhaps a measure of the extent to which 
Algeria, at least for now, has given up on current efforts at 
rapprochement.  (End Summary and Comment) 
 
ALGERIA TAKES NOTE OF GOM DECISION; 
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SHOULD DO THE SAME 
------------------------------------------ 
 
3.  (U) The Algerian Foreign Ministry has so far not 
responded on-the-record to Morocco's sudden cancellation of 
the June 21-22 meetings in Rabat between Algerian Prime 
Minister Ouyahia and Moroccan Prime Minister Jettou  Instead, 
unnamed MFA officials quoted on background in the press said: 
 "Algeria takes note of this new Moroccan about face and 
expects that the international community will also take note 
of this fact."  These sources explained that, "The Algerian 
position is marked by clarity and consistency on bilateral 
relations with Morocco, the construction of the Arab Maghreb, 
and on the issue of the Western Sahara.  In effect, with the 
Kingdom of Morocco, Algeria has incessantly declared its 
availability to relaunch and develop bilateral ties of 
cooperation in the spirit of brotherly and neighborly 
relations to which it is attached.  The planned visit of the 
Algerian Head of Government to Rabat, despite a media 
campaign orchestrated against Algeria, was yet more evidence 
of Algerian willingness and availability." 
 
ALGERIA STANDS READY TO CONSTRUCT THE ARAB MAGHREB UNION 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
4.  (U) On the construction of the Arab Maghreb Union, 
continued the sources, "Algeria was present at every meeting 
for this work propelled by the demands of history and by the 
imperatives of common destiny, and it will always be present. 
 But at the same time, each party knows precisely the reasons 
and responsibilities for the obstruction of Maghreb 
construction for these already ten long years." 
 
INALIENABLE RIGHT OF SAHRAWIS TO 
'SELF-DETERMINATION AND INDEPENDENCE" 
------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (U) "As for the issue of the Western Sahara," noted these 
same sources, "it is the entire international community 
which, through the United Nations, continues to await the 
implementation of its  (the U.N.) plan and its resolutions so 
that the decolonization of the Western Sahara is achieved and 
so that the Sahrawi people exercise, at last, their 
inalienable right to self-determination and independence. 
Algeria supports and will continue to support this 
requirement to respect international law for the just and 
definitive realization of the decolonization of the Western 
Sahara." 
 
"CLUMSY" AND "POLITICALLY STRANGE" 
DIPLOMACY AN INSULT TO ALGERIA 
---------------------------------- 
6.  (U) Algerian commentators noted that Morocco justified 
the cancellation of the Prime Ministers' meeting because of 
"the taking of positions in recent weeks by the Algerian 
authorities which are in clear contradiction with the 
objectives of bilateral normalization and rapprochement 
between the two peoples and the Arab Maghreb Union."  One 
commentator complained that the Moroccans were using 
President Bouteflika's May 21 letter to the head of the 
Polisario as justification for the cancellation, when in fact 
the Moroccans had already used this same letter to justify 
the cancellation of the Arab Maghreb Union summit meeting in 
Libya.  While other commentators lamented this recent turn of 
events, they stressed that Algerian-Moroccan relations were 
not as bad as they were in the 1970s, leaving room for hope 
that this latest storm would pass. 
 
7.  (U) More common were protestations of Moroccan disrespect 
for Algeria; several commentators noted that Morocco's 
attitude signaled the Kingdom's unrealistic insistence on 
Algerian capitulation vis-a-vis its support for the Sahrawis 
and Polisario.  In despair, many commentators concluded that 
Algeria should stand down from rapprochement with Morocco, a 
process which, in their view, benefited Morocco more than 
Algeria.  Still other commentators noted that Hassan II, 
"wiser" and "smarter" than his son (King Mohammed VI), would 
never have behaved in such an erratic and insulting manner. 
FLN Party Chairman (and Minister of State) Belkhadem, 
speaking for many Algerians, summed up the Moroccan insult as 
"politically strange" and "diplomatically clumsy." 
 
ERDMAN