US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS2132

UNCLAS ALGIERS 002132 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, SMIG, AG, MO, Algeria-Morocco Relations 
SUBJECT: MFA RESPONDS SHARPLY TO MOROCCAN ACCUSATIONS OF 
ALGERIAN ROLE IN CLANDESTINE IMMIGRATION ISSUE 
 
REF: A. ALGIERS 2082 
     B. FBIS GMP20051016710021 
 
1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an unusually 
sharply worded official response October 17 to the October 16 
comments of Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou that 
"strongly condemned Algeria and the Polisario's exploitation 
of the very complex immigration issue to achieve cheap 
propaganda ends."  (text in FBIS ref B). The Algerian 
response, with its pointed criticism of Jettou's remarks, 
marks a departure from Algeria's usual posture of presenting 
its policy positions in terms of the interests of the 
international community, international law and Security 
Council resolutions, as was the case in the earlier remarks 
by an unnamed senior MFA official reported in Ref A.  Below 
is embassy's lightly edited, unofficial translation of the 
French text of the MFA statement as published in the 
semi-official daily El Moudjahid October 18. 
 
2.  Begin edited text of MFA statement:  "In the face of the 
flood of fanciful, fallacious, and extreme accusations by the 
Moroccan governmental authorities manifestly seeking to blame 
others for their own actions, Algeria firmly adopts a 
position of calm and level-headedness.  Morocco's unfortunate 
relentless effort (to blame others), which presents a sorry 
spectacle, does not concern Algeria in the least.  This 
relentless effort, as well as the inappropriate and 
unjustified mixing together of the complex problem of 
clandestine immigration and the question of the 
decolonization of the Western Sahara are evidence of a 
regrettable moral and political drift.  The painful 
humanitarian developments arising from the phenomenon of 
clandestine immigration are followed by Algeria with all the 
attention and levelheadedness required by a particularly 
sensitive and complex question...It is surprising that the 
Moroccan governmental authorities, for some days now, have 
given themselves over to a deplorable escalation of 
defamatory and malicious remarks against Algeria in the 
context of the difficult situation which has developed on 
Moroccan territory..." 
3.  A passage follows on Algeria's commitment to work with 
African and international partners to find a solution to the 
clandestine immigration problem.  The statement concludes: 
"The unfortunate hostility toward Algeria that the Moroccan 
authorities incessantly entertain will not have the least 
impact on Algerian positions that conform with international 
law and are historically coherent." 
ERDMAN