The long fought-over Western Sahara: President
Obama
seems to be changing American policy on how
to resolve
the conflict, which has been going on since
the 1970s.
Le Quotidien d’Oran, Algeria
Is Obama Snubbing the King
of Morocco?
"In his letter to the king of
Morocco, Obama forgot to sing the praises of Morocco's proposal of autonomy for
the Western Sahara - a proposal that over recent years,his predecessorGeorge W.
Bush supported. The stance of the new U.S. administration is
nourishing Rabat 's worst fears."
By Mahrez Ilias
Translated By Sandrine Ageorges and Elise Nussbaum
King Mohammed VI of Morocco: President Obama appears to be backing away from a plan supported by the Bush Administration that would make the Western Sahara an autonomous part of Morocco. It would appear thatthe king is not amused.
A new version of the Baker Plan, which addresses
the problem of the decolonization of the Western Sahara, is in the realm of
possibility with the new American administration. [The Baker Plan would grant self-determination
to the people in the Western Sahara].
Or so international relations analyst Carlos Luis Miguel
believes. Interviewed by the Algerian Press Service, Miguel draws
his reasoning from the attitude shown by President
Barack Obama after last spring’s tour of the region by U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon's new personal envoy, U.S. diplomat Christopher Ross.
[Editor's
Note: The Western Sahara is a contested territory that from 1884 to 1975, was a
Spanish possession called the Spanish Sahara. After helping
to drive out Spain, the Polisario Front, also known as the Saharawi Liberation
Movement, undertook to drive out Morocco and Mauritania, who both laid claim to the region after Spain
withdrew. Mauritania has since relinquished any
claim.]
The reversal of the
White House position was made clear when, in a letter to the Moroccan monarch [King Mohammed VI],
President Barack Obama distanced himself from Morocco's plan to a resolve the
conflict with the Polisario Frontover this occupied territory. According the
Spain's left newspaper, El Pais,
published on Thursday, President Obama has distanced himself from the autonomy
Morocco wants to impose as a solution to theconflict.
"In his letter
to the king of Morocco, Obama forgot to sing the
praises of Morocco's proposal of autonomy for the Western Sahara - a proposal
that over recent years,his predecessorGeorge W. Bush supported in his messages to the
Moroccan monarch," stresses El Pais.
Better still, after
the U.N. Security Council's adoption last April of its latest resolution on the
Western Sahara, American Ambassador Susan Rice, "didn't even refer to the
Moroccan proposal," recalled the newspaper. For El Pais, if Obama’s
letter was of concern to the Moroccan authorities, it no doubt raised hopes within
the ranks of the Polisario Front, which still categorically rejects autonomy
[within Morocco]. The stance of the new U.S. administration is nourishing Rabat
's worst fears, after the U.N. secretary general's personal envoy didn’t even
manage to see the Moroccan king during his tour of the region.
Officially, Rabat
explained that the king was in Oujda when Christopher Ross arrived in Morocco.
But why, unless to confirm such fears, wasn't Ross received by Prime Minister
Abbas El-Fassi, since it is indeed he who deals with such matters for a king who oversees this matter personally? To King Mohammed VI, the Western Sahara is one of the "Southern
provinces of Morocco."
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
It was a huge
political blunder
[by Bush], which the clever Obama,
anti-slavery and a staunch democrat, made sure to rectify by not granting
credit to the proposal for autonomy. This proposal would actually confirm the annexation of the Western Sahara,
presented by Morocco during the Manhasset
negotiations, which have now hit a dead end.
On the other hand, El
Pais believes that, "in the eyes of Spanish diplomacy, the letter of
the American president to the king of Morocco signifies,
at least, that Obama wishes to allow the U.N. do its work without him leading
the way forward. Amore daring assumption would be that he's
distancing himself from the Moroccan proposal for autonomy while at the same
time seeking a solution to the conflict"
El Pais points out that the new proposed settlement of the conflict that Mr.
Ross will raise has "yet to be defined," but "envisages
ideas similar to those of James Baker," the former American Secretary of
State and special U.N. envoy to the Western Sahara. Morocco and the Polisario
Front are supposed to meet in Austria this month, but the revived discussions
will differ from those that were held in Manhasset.
For Spanish analyst
Ruis Miguel, "The recent letter from Obama to the king of Morocco made no
reference to any type of U.S. support for Morocco's proposal for autonomy in
the Western Sahara. On the contrary, it demands support for the efforts of the
special envoy to the Western Sahara, Christopher Ross." Among other things,
Miguel affirms that, "for me, it's clear that neither the United States
nor Ross supports the Moroccan proposal to grant broad autonomy to the Saharawi people. [The Polisario Frontis also known as the Saharawi Liberation
Movement. Sararawi means 'Western Saharan']. And
there is every reason to believe that we're moving toward a revised version of
the Baker Plan, that is still the basis of finding a just and lasting solution
to the conflict."
Ross's most recent
tour of the region was boycotted by the Moroccans, who sensed that this time,
the new envoy of the U.N. General Secretary, contrary to his predecessor, wants
to work seriously and within the law to resolve the issue of the decolonization of this
ghetto. This also reflects Obama’s desire and willingness to correct - even at
a distance - the course of events in the conflict over the Western Sahara by placing
it in its proper context.
