US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS1251

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001251 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PBTS, PHUM, AG, MO, WI, Algeria-Morocco Relations 
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN CRITICISM OF MOROCCO SHARPENS 
 
REF: ALGIERS 1243 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman, 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
-------------------- 
 
1.  (C) While there has still been no official public 
response to Morocco's cancellation of the June 21-22 Prime 
Ministers' meeting in Rabat, an unidentified diplomatic 
source, clearly reflecting GOA views, has sharpened Algerian 
criticism of Morocco's move.  The official, whom we believe 
was Minister-Delegate Messahel, termed the cancellation 
"grave and irresponsible," said Morocco alone bore 
responsibility for the current impasse, and accused Morocco 
of turning differences over the Western Sahara into a 
bilateral issue.  On the other hand, it is perhaps noteworthy 
that the official, in strongly reaffirming the Sahrawi right 
to self-determination, did not provocatively refer to the 
"right of independence."  Reference was also pointedly made 
to the letter from 25 U.S. members of Congress to the 
Secretary urging a referendum on self-determination. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
2.  (C) The Algerian press has also added fuel to the 
rhetorical fire, accusing the King of using Algeria as a 
scapegoat for problems at home and noting growing republican 
sentiment in Morocco.  Meanwhile, former FM and current 
Minister of State Belkhadem, speaking as the FLN leader and 
making clear he could not speak for Foreign Minister 
Bedjaoui, publicly criticized for the second time the 
cancellation decision.  For a country that remembers the 
French invasion of Algeria in 1830 was triggered by an insult 
to the French consul, the sense of GOA anger and injured 
pride here over Morocco's perceived public insult to 
Algeria's prime minister is real.  While there is still a 
measure of restraint in the GOA reaction -- witness the 
deliberate and continued absence of an official public 
reaction -- it will take a while for the anger to subside. 
In the meantime, and given Rabat's own grievances, we seem 
headed for some rough sledding in the region in the near 
term.  (End summary and comment) 
 
UNIDENTIFIED DIPLOMATIC SOURCES BLAME MOROCCO... 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
3.  (U) In the June 20 government daily El-Moudjahid, an 
unidentified diplomatic source, clearly reflecting official 
views, sharpened GOA criticism of Morocco's cancellation of 
the June 21-22 meeting of the Algerian and Moroccan Prime 
Ministers.  Terming the Moroccan action "grave and 
irresponsible," the official said Algeria has "always 
affirmed its readiness" to develop its relations with Morocco 
"at all levels," and Rabat "alone bears" responsibility of 
the "current impasse."  Referring to the Moroccan decision, 
the official continued:  "(The Moroccan communiqu contains) 
contradictions in fact and (makes) a clear and deliberate 
distortion of reality in pretending that the Algerian policy 
with respect to Morocco is incoherent."  On the prospects for 
reconciliation, the source said:  "The Moroccan Government, 
in an incomprehensible and entirely clumsy manner, just 
slammed the brakes on the rapprochement much hoped for by our 
two peoples,"  adding that Morocco's media campaign waged 
against Algeria was "heinous." 
 
4.  (U) On the nexus between the Western Sahara and 
Algerian-Moroccan relations, the source commented:  "We 
(Algerians) have always made known to our Moroccan brothers, 
and they know full well, (that) the bilateral relations 
between our two countries have nothing to do with the issue 
of the Western Sahara....If there is one iron-clad principle 
of Algerian foreign policy, it is the respect for 
international law" and "the right of peoples to determine 
their own self-destiny," explained the source in defending 
the Algerian position on the Western Sahara.  Noting that 
Algeria had "paid a heavy price for its independence" from 
France, the Algerian source made clear that "Algeria would 
not sit still in the face of injustice; it would instead 
support the right of peoples to self-determination, (as it 
had done in opposing Indonesian control of East Timor), a 
principle embodied in the U.N. Charter."  The official also 
reaffirmed Algeria's consistent support for the Arab Maghreb 
Union and pointedly made reference to the letter from 25 U.S. 
members of Congress to the Secretary urging a referendum on 
self-determination. 
 
... AND THE PRESS OBLIGES WITH CRITICISM OF THE KING 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
5.  (U) Algerian newspapers, taking their cue from the GOA, 
also blamed Morocco for the deadlock and took aim at the 
Moroccan monarchy.  "The first disturbing thing for the King 
of Morocco is that the Algeria of 2005 is not the Algeria of 
1991," opined La Nouvelle Republique in an editorial 
entitled, "What is Mohammed VI afraid of?"  Continuing, the 
newspaper comments, "(Algerian) terrorism has fundamentally 
decreased and the price of oil has contributed to Algeria's 
very good financial health."  In Morocco, however, "Mohammed 
VI has been unable to keep his promises of 
(democratization)."  The Moroccan textile industry is in 
crisis, external debt is increasing, and 2005 has been a dark 
year for Algerian agriculture, notes the French-language 
daily. 
 
6.  (U) Quoting unnamed Algerian officials, the 
French-language daily Liberte said Morocco was responsible 
for the crisis.  "Algeria is composed, confident in itself, 
and has absolutely nothing to regret.  It does not intend to 
engage Morocco in a debate whose primary objective ... is to 
bilateralize the issue of the Western Sahara."  To the 
question,  "Who hides behind the Moroccan agitation?" these 
same sources answer: "the future of the monarchy." 
 
7.  (U) The lead headline in the Arabic-language daily 
Echourouk El-Youmi was, "Morocco plays with fire."  The 
French-language daily Le Quotidien d'Oran carried a quote 
from Abdelaziz Belkhadem, State Minister and Personal 
Representative of the President (who also was the previous 
Foreign Minister and is the current head of the FLN, the 
largest party in the presidential coalition), characterizing 
as "entirely abnormal" the unilateral Moroccan decision to 
cancel a bilateral visit.  Asked for the official reaction of 
the Algerian Government, Belkhadem said he could not speak 
for Foreign Minister Bedjaoui.  (Note:  Neither the Foreign 
Minister nor the Prime Minister has "officially" reacted to 
the cancellation of the meeting.) 
 
ERDMAN