Western Sahara - Obama turns his back on Morocco

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 predecessor George 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

 

July 19, 2009

 

Algeria - Le Quotidien d'Oran - Home Page (French)

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.

 

UNITED NATIONS TV: The crisis involving refugees from the Western Sahara, Feb. 17, 00:05:24RealVideo

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 Front over 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 the conflict.

 

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"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 predecessor George 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. A more 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 Front is 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.

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US July 23, 6:39pm]