US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS2045

UNCLAS ALGIERS 002045 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, WI, MO, AG, UNGA, Polisario 
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN DRAFT RESOLUTION ON WESTERN SAHARA IN 
UNGA FOURTH COMMITTEE 
 
 
1.  DCM represented the Embassy at a meeting October 3 
convoked by MFA with the ambassadors of North and South 
American states.  MFA Acting Director General for the 
Americas Abderrahmane Benmokhtar explained that Algeria is 
about to introduce a draft resolution on the Western Sahara 
in the UNGA's fourth committee when it convenes next week, 
and was briefing regional groups of ambassadors in advance of 
the introduction of the draft (text faxed to USUN and 
NEA/MAG).  Benmokhtar with a straight face stressed that 
Algeria thought there should be "no controversy" about the 
draft and hoped to have it passed by consensus, but he added 
that Morocco may call for a vote.  If that were the case, 
Benmokhtar said Algeria hoped that member states would vote 
yes since abstentions "would only serve to solidify Morocco's 
intransigence." 
 
2.  Benmokhtar said the main operative points of the Algerian 
draft: (1) underlines UNSCR 1495 in which the Council 
expressed its support for James Baker's peace plan "as an 
optimum political solution"; (2) strongly supports the 
efforts of the SYG and his Personal Representative to achieve 
a mutually acceptable political solution to the dispute; (3) 
calls for the parties and regional states to cooperate fully 
with the SYG and his Personal Representative; (4) reaffirms 
the responsibility of the UN to the people of the Western 
Sahara; and (5) calls upon the parties to cooperate with the 
ICRC in determining the fate of missing persons and to 
release all those held since the beginning of the conflict. 
 
3.  (SBU)  In the follow-on discussion, Benmokhtar stressed 
that the Security Council, in Resolution 1495, unanimously 
supported the Baker plan.  He said Algeria has no territorial 
ambitions in the Western Sahara, but only seeks to support 
the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination.  Benmokhtar 
said Algeria had taken the initiative to introduce the draft 
resolution "in order to avoid maneuvers," presumably on the 
part of Morocco.  As the meeting concluded, a member of the 
MFA's IO department told DCM that Algeria only sought the 
implementation of the Baker Plan. 
ERDMAN