MOROCCO NEWS BOARD
HASSAN MASIKY
Washington / Morocco News Board— For the first time in the history the Western Sahara conflict, a United State Secretary of State indicates in unequivocal terms the United State support of the Moroccan official position. During a meeting with her Moroccan counterpart, who is in a visit to Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton restated the United States support for the Morocco’s “Autonomy Plan for the Sahara”.
In qualifying the Moroccan Plan as “serious, realistic and credible”, Mrs. Clinton has laid out Washington position on this long simmering territorial dispute. Algeria, without a doubt, unhappy with the U.S. explicit support of the Moroccan position, has not commented on this important development.
As with major developments in the Western Sahara dossier, the Moroccan public is waiting to see if the Moroccan diplomacy can capitalize on the U.S. support. It is time for the Moroccan diplomats to take the American support to the United Nation and work with the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Personal Envoy to the Western Sahara, Mr. Christopher Ross, on a new plan based on the spirit of an advanced autonomy plan for the Sahara. More significantly, Rabat must publicize and begin to implement certain aspects of the “Autonomy Plan for the Sahara” with an open, professional and democratic approach.
Involving local sahrawis, from different tribes and political tendencies including pro-separatists elements, in the decision making process toward a final status of the Autonomy Plan is key to the success of the Moroccan efforts. A serious attempt to include Polisario sympathizers in the Moroccan Sahara will encourage more pro-Algeria Sahrawis to join the Moroccan efforts.
Mrs. Clinton choice of language is significant, given the recent diplomatic missteps of the Moroccan diplomacy at the United Nations. While still supporting, against Moroccan objections, Mr. Ross, Washington gave Morocco a bigger boost by supporting Rabat position. The fact that The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon elected to neither monitor human rights in the Western Sahara nor modify the terms of the UN mission to the Western Sahara is more significant that Mr. Ki-Moon choice to keep Mr. Ross.
The American reassessment of its position on the Western Sahara emerged as a result of the Obama administration new approach to protect America’s few vital allies left in the region. In the face of the fast-paced political and military developments happening in North Africa and the Middle East, Washington determined that the Western Sahara conflict, as it stands today, endangers the stability of the Kingdom of Morocco and thus threatens the U.S. national interest.
Algeria’s anti-American positions on hot button conflicts around the world including Iran and Syria, the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel and the rise of terror activities in the Algerian controlled Western Saharan separatist’s camps in the Algerian Sahara steered the American administration to end its long standing “diplomatic blind eye” policy toward Algiers anti-American activism around the world.
The Moroccan government is in a good position to make real headways toward closing this tumultuous chapter of post-independence Morocco. Moroccans are pinning their hopes on their diplomats expecting their officials to do the right thing.
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