The Security Council unanimously adopted on Thursday a resolution renewing the mandate of MINURSO until 30 April 2014, without extending its mission to monitor human rights in the Sahara. According to a French well-informed source, “King Mohammed VI sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama.” “The intervention of the King was crucial and decisive in the withdrawal of U.S. draft resolution,” … “For Barack Obama, the White House was not involved in the draft resolution and it is totally aware of the of the importance of the relationship and alliance with Morocco,”.
The United States had initially presented a text which, for the first time, charged MINURSO to “monitor and report on” respect for human rights in the Sahara, which Morocco proposal was unacceptable and considered a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Morocco has also responded by canceling the annual military maneuvers “African Lion”, which were to participate 1,400 U.S. soldiers and 900 Moroccan soldiers.
The U.S. draft resolution further infuriated France, which was not informed. A French diplomatic source had called the initiative “a mistake” and “provocative.”
The Spanish daily “El Pais” had for its part reported Saturday on its website that Spain considers “non-viable” the proposal of the United States to extend the mandate of MINURSO to monitor human rights in the Sahara.
Morocco’s steadfast opposition to US-backed plans to broaden the mandate of UN peacekeepers in the disputed Western Sahara to human rights monitoring threatens to sour relations with key ally Washington.
Rabat on Monday described the proposal as an attempt to “deform” the mandate of the two-decade-old peacekeeping force, and has launched a frantic lobbying campaign in defence of the kingdom’s “sovereignty” over its southern provinces.
The US embassy admitted on Friday that there had been some negative fallout on relations but played down its extent.
“Certainly this is a bump in the road. But I think Morocco will remain a strong ally and a partner,” embassy spokesman Rodney Ford told AFP.
In the clearest sign yet of its displeasure, Morocco cancelled annual war games with the US military, which had been due to take place throughout April and involve 1,400 US and 900 Moroccan military personnel.
The foreign ministry on Friday denied that any major rights abuses took place in the Western Sahara, said the initiative to broaden the UN force’s mandate threatened the peace process, and labelled the Polisario Front a “terrorist organisation.”
“This approach creates a false symmetry between a sovereign state, which respects its international obligations and a terrorist organisation,” said deputy foreign minister Youssef Amrani, adding that mechanisms already existed to monitor human rights in what he called the “Moroccan Sahara.”
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state, has always praised Morocco as a “leader and a model” in a region where the U.S. needs a strong, reliable and influential ally.
The U.S. has had a free-trade agreement with Morocco since 2004, the same year the kingdom was named a major non-NATO ally, a designation reflecting the close ties between the two countries.
The relationship has grown in importance for Washington since the revolutions that toppled leaders elsewhere in North Africa. It is worth noting that King Mohammed VI of Morocco skillfully negotiated the challenges of the Arab Spring by holding a constitutional referendum on political reforms in the face of popular protests, followed by multiparty elections in November 2011.
According to Antonin Tisseron, a security specialist at the Thomas Moore Institute, the United States’ interest in a tighter relationship with Morocco is focused on the battle against terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism.
“In the context of the assassination of the U.S. ambassador in Libya, the uncertainties about Tunisia and Egypt, and the specter of the ‘Afghanization’ of northern Mali,” he wrote this week, “the kingdom appears to be an important, if not essential partner.”
Morocco is seen as an increasingly vital bulwark against the threat of instability spreading from Mali after the northern half of the central African state fell under the control of militant, foreign-sponsored radical Islamist movements.
That is coupled with a wider perceived threat posed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its north African affiliates. Europe is particularly concerned about the additional challenge posed by narcotics and people-smugglers active in the region.
One European commentator suggested this week that the impetus for closer U.S.-Moroccan ties was part of Washington’s wider strategic policy toward the Middle East.
“The U.S. wants to make its Moroccan ally the second player in the strategy it has adopted towards the Arab-Muslim geopolitical space,” wrote Pedro Canales in El Imparcial in Spain.
Morocco was the first country to recognize American independence in 1777. And the ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, “fell in love with the region” after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.
Viewed as a pivot of stability in a troubled North Africa, Morocco is positioning itself as a central player in a renewal of America’s North African policy, one that is more inclusive and less intrusive.
