US embassy cable - 05RABAT2231

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 002231 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2009 
TAGS: MO, PGOV, PHUM, PREL, PBTS 
SUBJECT: ICRC BRIEFS ON LATEST HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES IN 
WESTERN SAHARA AND MOROCCO 
 
REF: A. RABAT 2227 
 
     B. RABAT 1229 
 
Classified By: POL/C Timothy Lenderking for Reasons 1.4. (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  ICRC Regional Delegate Bernard Pfefferle 
met with Poloffs October 27 to review humanitarian issues 
concerning the Western Sahara and to update us on ICRC 
activities in Morocco.  Pfefferle said the ICRC was somewhat 
put off by Moroccan insistence, conveyed in a meeting between 
MFA SecGen Hillali and ICRC President Kellenberger a few 
weeks ago, that the ICRC publicly absolve Morocco of any 
outstanding human rights cases concerning the Western Sahara. 
 Pfefferle said the ICRC continues to believe both sides have 
more information to impart concerning missing people and/or 
their remains.  Pfefferle said debriefings with the POWs 
released in August had been useful and allowed ICRC to close 
several cases.  Pfefferle noted he had met with Equity and 
Reconciliation President Driss Benzekri and MOJ SecGen Lididi 
earlier in the week concerning the possibility of 
establishing a formal agreement with the GOM to conduct 
regular prison visits in Morocco, as the ICRC does now in 
Tunisia; both officials thought the time was right and 
encouraged ICRC to draft an agreement.  To better follow its 
activities in Morocco and the Western Sahara, the ICRC will 
send a staffer on long-term TDY to Rabat.  Pfefferle thanked 
the US again for facilitating the release of the remaining 
POWs in August.  End Summary. 
 
The Moroccans are "Stressed" 
---------------------------- 
 
2.  (C) Polcouns and Poloff met October 27 with Tunis-based 
ICRC Regional Delegate Bernard Pfefferle, in country on a 
periodic visit, to review ICRC's latest activities in Morocco 
and to share with Pfefferle a read-out of our meetings with 
human rights activists in Laayoune earlier in the week 
(septel).  Pfefferle explained that he had met with the MFA 
Director of UN and International Affairs Madame Alaoui 
earlier in the week and found the Moroccans "stressed and 
tense" concerning the Western Sahara human rights dossier. 
This agitation was also reflected, Pfefferle said, in a 
meeting three-four weeks ago between MFA SecGen Omar Hillali 
and ICRC President Jacob Kellenberger.  In that meeting, 
Hillali pressed the ICRC to give Morocco a clean bill of 
health on past Western Sahara rights issues, and to say so 
publicly.  Pfefferle said the ICRC found the demarche unusual 
and inappropriate and responded to Hillali that as many cases 
were not closed, the ICRC could not take such action. 
 
3.  (C) Pfefferle said the question of "closing files" was a 
difficult one in general.  Was a file closed when the 
relatives of the disappeared were satisfied no information 
was being withheld?  Was a case closed when the ICRC felt 
both sides had provided as much information as they had, or 
as much as they were going to give?  Pfefferle said new 
information concerning past abuses in the Western Sahara 
continued to turn up:  investigations by the Moroccan Truth 
and Reconciliation Commission (IER, see ref A) had lead to 
the discovery of gravesites and photos from the battlefield. 
The IER had no mandate to share this information with the 
ICRC, however, or to meet with representatives of the 
Polisario, which Pfefferle thought could be useful. 
Debriefings with the 404 POWs released in August had also 
yielded information that allowed ICRC to close a number of 
outstanding cases. 
 
4.  (C) Referring to seven well-documented cases of missing 
civilians which the ICRC had gleaned from interviews in 
Rabouni camp (ref B), Pfefferle said the Moroccan MFA had 
some information to impart which he hoped to obtain later in 
the week. 
 
5.  (SBU) Pfefferle handed to Poloffs an information sheet 
updating the current figures of missing from both sides, 
noting that he anticipated the information would be made 
public later in the week (document transmitted in its 
entirety in para 11). 
 
6.  (C) Polcouns noted that pro-Polisario human rights 
advocates had stacks of cases which they alleged represented 
missing persons about whom the GOM had still not provided any 
information.  Poloffs had seen the well-kept documents, 
 
representing some 115 individuals seized between 1975 and 
1993, during a visit to Laayoune earlier that week.  The 
Sahrawi activists had said that the information had been 
provided to the ICRC, and they were eager for any information 
the ICRC could provide.  Pfefferle said he was aware of the 
cases and believed the ICRC's numbers included those 115 or 
so individuals. 
 
Human Rights Education Project 
------------------------------ 
 
7.  (C) Polcouns asked how ICRC's project with the Ministry 
of Education to introduce principles of international 
humanitarian law into school curricula was going (Ref B). 
Pfefferle said it was not going well; there was turn-over in 
some of the key positions in the GOM, and the project was in 
limbo.  Getting this project back on track would be one of 
the priorities of the ICRC employee who would be temporarily 
assigned to Rabat in the coming weeks. 
 
Prison Access 
------------- 
 
8.  (C) Pfefferle was pleased that both Benzekri and MOJ 
SecGen Mohamed Lididi had been encouraging about pursuing a 
formal agreement with the GOM for the ICRC to gain regular 
access to Moroccan prisons, as ICRC had succeeded in doing in 
Tunisia.  Benzekri had indicated to Pfefferle that the 
decision would have to be made by King Mohammed himself, but 
the timing was good.  Lididi told Pfefferle that Morocco "had 
nothing to hide."  (Note:  the lack of a formal prison 
visitation agreement with the GOM prevents the ICRC from 
conducting ad hoc visits, such as we explored with Pfefferle 
 
9.  (C) Polcouns endorsed the idea, noting that Moroccan 
prison administration and behavior by the security services 
was now regularly in the spotlight because of the Sahrawi 
hunger strikes, which resumed on October 20.  It was 
important for the Moroccans to get in front of this issue, 
stop reacting in a defensive manner, and give the Moroccan 
people and the international community information -- facts 
-- about the detention of these 37 individuals.  Apart from 
this particular issue, Polcouns noted that Moroccan prisons 
are cited in the US annual human rights report for their 
overcrowding and poor conditions, and having a credible 
international organization like ICRC visit them periodically 
could ultimately benefit Morocco.  It was a good sign the GOM 
was receptive to this idea, and Polcouns hoped the ICRC would 
go forward. 
 
Thanks on POW Release 
--------------------- 
 
10.  (C) Pfefferle reiterated his thanks to the US for 
facilitating the release of the remaining POWs and for being 
so easy to work with in making all of the logistical 
arrangements.  He shared US hope that the parties would take 
advantage of the release to make progress on the political 
front. 
 
Latest ICRC Figures on the Missing 
---------------------------------- 
 
11.  (SBU) Following is unofficial embassy translation of 
ICRC's latest document on the numbers of missing in 
Morocco/Western Sahara, assed by Pfefferle to poloffs: 
 
Begin Text: 
 
I April 1991, the United Nations Security Council aopted, 
in its resolution 690, the settlement pla proposed by the 
Secretary General of the United ations, which included 
 
SIPDIS 
notably an exchange of prisoners of war under the auspices of 
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 
 
The settlement plan specified that repatriation of prisoners 
would happen at the end of a process of registration of all 
the people allowed to vote during the referendum.  This 
condition led the ICRC president to write to the King of 
Morocco, the Secretary General of the Polisario Front and the 
Secretary General of the United Nations, to advise the 
 
SIPDIS 
parties concerned against linking the humanitarian issues to 
the political aspects of the conflict settlement. 
 
 
Following those steps, cooperation with the parties has been 
strengthened. The ICRC, which was therefore able to offer 
better protection to the prisoners and play its traditional 
role within the framework of several repatriation operations, 
was granted the authorization to regularly visit the 
prisoners. 
 
The ICRC visited combatants from the Polisario Front who had 
been detained by Morocco until 1996. On October 31, 1996, 
Morocco released 66 prisoners who were repatriated to Tindouf 
by the ICRC, and has reaffirmed since then that it did not 
detain any prisoners from the Polisario Front subsequently. 
 
The ICRC visited Moroccan soldiers detained by the Polisario 
Front until 2005. On August 18, 2005, the Polisario Front 
released the 404 Moroccan prisoners it was still holding; 
they were repatriated to Morocco that same day under the 
auspices of the ICRC. 
 
This operation puts an end to a long imprisonment and 
constitutes an important step in the process of resolution of 
the humanitarian consequences of the Western Sahara issue. 
 
To that end, the ICRC continues its efforts so that the fate 
of all the people who were reported missing because of the 
conflict could be explained, and reminds that the parties to 
the conflict are obligated to contribute to get to the bottom 
of those cases. 
 
Regarding the problem of the Sahrawi refugees, which is the 
responsibility of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees 
(UNHCR), the ICRC wishes for this humanitarian issue, which 
affects a population in exile for 30 years, to be solved in 
the respect and dignity of all. 
 
Outstanding humanitarian issues: 
 
--From the beginning of the conflict, and even more after the 
1991 cease-fire agreement, the ICRC dealt with requests from 
the parties regarding people reported missing during the 
conflict, be the disappearance linked to a brush with the 
enemy or to an alleged arrest. It received a few death 
certificates for prisoners who died during their 
imprisonment. Information necessary to identify the exact 
location and the designation of the tombs must be kept by the 
responsible parties in order to be conveyed as soon as 
circumstances allow. 
 
Polisario Front combatants reported missing: 
 
In December 2000, the ICRC received from the Polisario Front 
a list of 179 combatants who had been reported missing. The 
cases were submitted in stages to the Moroccan authorities 
that gave written answers. Those written answers were 
conveyed to the Polisario Front. Moreover: 
 
In November 2001, 22 persons who were on this list were found 
and an ICRC delegate met them in Laayoune; 
 
-- During that same period of time, a prisoner captured by 
Morocco at the beginning of the conflict, but whose status 
was disputed and who had been regularly visited by the ICRC, 
was released; 
-- In September 2002, the Polisario Front closed eight other 
cases; 
-- In May 2003, four persons whose names were on the list 
given by the Polisario Front were found and an ICRC delegate 
met them in Laayoune and Dakhla; 
-- In January 2004, a person whose name was on the list given 
by the Polisario Front was found and an ICRC delegate met 
that person in Nouadhibou, Mauritania; 
-- In January 2005, the Polisario Front closed one other case. 
 
--The ICRC continues consultations related to the other 
unresolved cases. 
 
Moroccan soldiers reported missing: 
 
In April 2002, the ICRC received from the Moroccan 
authorities a list of 253 Moroccan soldiers and five Moroccan 
civilians who were reported missing during the conflict. The 
majority of cases has been submitted to the Polisario Front, 
 
the other ones will need to be further investigated by 
Moroccan authorities. Moreover: 
 
-- In December 2003, 19 cases of missing Moroccans for whom 
the ICRC received information confirming their death in 
combat, were closed; 
-- In February 2005, Moroccan authorities closed 32 other 
cases and reopened six older cases; 
-- In July 2005, Moroccan authorities closed one other case. 
 
--The ICRC continues consultations related to the other 
unresolved cases. 
 
Civilians reported missing: 
 
In November 2004, the ICRC received from the Polisario Front 
a provisional list of 262 Sahrawi civilians reported missing. 
 In April 2005, the ICRC contacted the families of those 
missing civilians to complete their files.  In May 2005, 
seven cases were conveyed to the Moroccan authorities, which 
have not yet answered.  The other cases on this list will be 
conveyed to the Moroccan authorities. 
 
Other persons reported missing: 
 
The ICRC continues its efforts in order to also take care of 
all documented cases, submitted by families or any other 
source, of persons reported missing but who do not appear on 
the above-mentioned lists. 
 
End Text. 
 
 
RILEY