Opinion: World Community Ignoring Refugees In Algeria

Joseph K. Grieboski, founder of the Institute of Religion and Public Policy, writes that the international community has forgotten the plight faced by refugees in Algerian and Polisario-run camps. However, with the recent kidnappings of Spanish aid-workers, the world is now showing concern for the situation in these camps. Grieboski points out that Algeria, in which the camps are located, has been silent regarding the kidnappings and must address the kidnappings and the Western Sahara issue at-large. Read More



Question of the Day: What more can be done to bring light upon the situation in the refugee Camps?

Leave your comments below to be heard!

Morocco Dealing With Lone-Wolf Terrorism

Morocco’s counter-terrorism measures have made it difficult for Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to gain a foothold in the country. However, Morocco continues to suffer from lone-wolf operators who operate outside the structure of the larger terrorist network. Though the Algerian-backed Polisario and AQIM are unlikely to work together because of Algeria’s opposition to Al-Qaida, Morocco’s primary source of trouble may be the Western Sahara. Analysts warn that its inhabitants’ anger with the Moroccan government may lead to youth being drawn to violence. Read More



Question of the Day: What can Morocco do to prevent Western Sahara from becoming a source of trouble?

Sentences Handed Out for Soccer Riots

Eleven people were convicted for their role in riots that killed seven people during a soccer game. The riot occurred in the Western Saharan city of Dakhla, after rival groups, which reportedly also included Sahrawi activists, and left two policeman among the dead. The sentences have ranged from eight months to a year. Read More

Morocco Reaffirms Committment to Finding Western Sahara Solution

Moroccan Foreign Minister Taïb Fassi Fihri told the UN Tuesday that his nation was ready to intensify negotiations in order to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. Fihri underscored the importance of finding a solution in light of the Arab Spring. In addition, Fihri stated that Morocco had been working hard to increase contacts with Algeria in order to improve relations between the two countries. Read More

Fatalities After Western Sahara Soccer Game

Seven people were killed after a soccer game in the city of Dakhla, Western Sahara. Two of the fatalities were policemen. Initial reports show that at least 20 people were injured. The interior minister of Morocco ordered an investigation into the incident. Read More

US Anaylsts: Polisario Increasing Drug Trade Efforts

According to US analysts, the Polisario has expanded its drug trafficking efforts in Northern Africa. This has led to the Polisario dividing into warring divisions, with the last month seeing opposing Polisario factions fighting on the Mali-Algeria border. One analyst stated that the Polisario, an Algerian-supported Western Sahara group, has teamed up with Al Qaida in the drug and weapons trade. Read More

New "Morocco Caucus" Formed in Congress

Leaders of Congress unveiled the formation of a "Congressional Morocco Caucus" last week. The bipartisan group is tasked with "deepening the economic and strategic relationship between the United States and Morocco". A letter sent from the group to fellow House members highlighted the importance of Morocco's alliance and praised Morocco's recent constitutional referendum in response to the Arab Spring. Members also worried that the continuing dispute in the Western Sahara was distracting from issues such as anti-terrorism and dealing with the regional unrest. Read More

Question of the Day: Does the formation of the Caucus represent a step-forward on the Western Sahara issue that will produce actual results?

The Autonomy Plan- For the Win

It’s a question that hounds people around the world: how do you reconcile the legitimate territorial rights of a sovereign nation to the equally legitimate aspirations of a local populace to self-determination? At first glance, these ideas may seem very much mutually exclusive. However, King Muhammad VI of Morocco may just have created a solution that satisfies both principles.

The area of conflict is the Western Sahara, which has lived essentially in limbo since the departure of its Spanish colonial overlord in 1975. Authority passed to joint rule by Morocco and Mauretania. Violence soon broke out though, and in the late 1970’s the Mauritanian government threw in the towel and gave up any claims in favor of the POLISARIO rebels. Morocco stayed though, backed by internationally recognized land claims that went back, depending on who was asked, at least decades.

On the other hand, there are of course people who live in the Western Sahara. These people, by any and all standards, deserve proper government and basic civil liberties. The UN recognizes this fact, but more importantly the Moroccan government recognizes this. This led King Muhammad VI, after the failure of numerous rounds of talks with the POLISARIO front, to take the initiative and create his own autonomy plan. It is a plan that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton called, “serious, realistic and credible, a potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity.”

The autonomy plan is effective in reconciling the two outlying causes of the conflict over the Western Sahara. It recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, while allowing for serious local governance by the people of the region. It is a credible plan, and, as constitutional law professor Benoit Pelletier of Ottawa University said, “in conformity with international norms in force.”

Such an approach, as balanced as it is, is simply in line with the reforms and progress King Muhammad VI has made since his ascension to the throne 12 years ago.

The American Task Force on Western Sahara sees this as a truly viable solution to the conflict, which is why ATFWS so heartily supports it. The autonomy plan is a reasonable way to end one conflict on a conflict-plagued continent.

What do you think? Is it a framework for peace or a farce? Join the debate!

-By the Editors

Deadly Unexploded Munitions Destroyed in Western Sahara

August saw over 7,000 Unexploded Ordinances (grenades, artillery projectiles, and bombs) destroyed in the Western Sahara. Though the exact number of these live munitions, which are spread all across the Western Sahara, is unknown, there have been thousands of casualties that have resulted due to civilians coming upon these explosives. MINURSO conducted the destruction of the munitions across 433 sites across the Western Sahara. Read More

Polisario Fighters Captured in Libya

An official in the National Transitional Council (NTC), Libya's official rebel organization, announced that over 550 fighters from the Polisario Front were detained near the town of Zawiyah.. The official stated that documents from recovered from the Algerian Embassy in Tripoli show that the fighters entered Libya with support of Algiers. The fighters, fighting as mercenaries for Moammar Ghadaffi, were also supported by some Algerian troops, the official claimed. Read More

Question of the Day: If substantiated, what benefit do you think the Polisario stood to gain in fighting for Ghaddafi?

Chile Calls Autonomy Plan "Interesting"

During a visit to Rabat to discuss common legislative interests between the two countries, the President of Chile's Senate, Guido Gilardi, called Morocco's autonomy plan "interesting". Gilardi expressed Chile's support for the United Nations to resolve the long-standing Western Sahara conflict. In addition, he praised Morocco's recent democratic initiatives. Read More

QUESTION OF THE DAY: How do you interpret the Senate President's statements on the conflict?

Leave your comments below to have your view heard.

Keep Realistic Standards for Morocco

Aida Alami, in her New York Times piece “Morocco's Democratic Changes Fail to Appease All”, critiques Morocco’s recent constitutional referendums. Alami points out that critics have viewed the referendum as inadequate, the process as invalid, and the constitutional changes as cosmetic. However, there are a few points that Alami does not take into account in coming to her conclusions.

Firstly, the article fails to realize that Morocco is in a region that is, by all accounts, behind in a democratic institutions. To expect it to change overnight into a constitutional monarchy or some other type of representative government is unrealistic. These processes take time to develop. It took the United States 88 years after its founding to deem that slavery of another individual as illegal. No one, not even Morocco itself, believes that this constitutional referendum fully solves the lack of representative government. The King himself stated in his address to the nation that the new constitution is no silver bullet, saying, “As perfect as it may be, a constitution is never an end in itself, but rather a means for the establishment of democratic institutions.” Put into perspective of the entire Middle East, however, this is an unprecedented step forward. While other regimes have either ignored protestor’s demands, given vague promises, or clamped down on protestors, Morocco has actually introduced a set of reforms and presented it to the people. This will not only have implications within Morocco itself (and the Western Sahara conflict), but also across the broader region. There is admittedly much work to be done, but this is a response to citizens’ demands which should be applauded.

The article states that only 13 million out of the 20 million citizens eligible to vote were actually registered to vote. That comes out to 65% of those able to vote were actually registered. This is not far behind the United States, where the percentage is 71%. Once again, considering the Arab world is just coming into the democratic era, this is a promising number. Also, of those who did vote, 98% voted in favor of the referendum. Of course, this is not “all”, but it is at least indicative of a large number of Moroccans accepting the reforms.

The title of the article itself reveals another flaw in its expectations. The title states that not “all” are happy with the changes. Is this not an obvious statement? No matter what was proposed, would everyone be happy? Such is the nature of a society- there will be some that are happy with certain courses of action, others who would have liked to go a different route. Once again, the United States is an apt example. The current debt ceiling negotiations are guaranteed to not appease somebody. Even on less contentious issues, there is never a 100% appeasement rate. It is not fair to keep such a high standard on such policy initiatives.

Morocco is not “there” yet. Its internal situation, and its issues with Western Sahara, are ever evolving. While it is important for those on the outside to encourage reforms and progress, it is equally imperative that expectations be realistic. It is vital that the context of the region’s history and politics be taken into account when judging the pace of change.

UN Hosts Western Sahara Talks

The United Nations has backed a round of informal talks concerning the Western Sahara conflict. The talks will include Morocco and the Polisario Front, along with the neighboring countries of Mauritania and Algeria. The talks start today and will end on Thursday.

The talks come at the invitation of Christopher Ross, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, continuing an effort since 1976 to negotiate a settlement.

Question: How do you think the talks will go?

Leave your comments below.

US Views on Western Sahara

In March of last year, 54 US Senators sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to make Western Sahara the focus of US North African policy. The letter stated that the region's economy plus the restless youth population were contributing to instability. The Senators supported the autonomy plan, calling it "serious and credible".

Now, with Congress having focused on the deficit, the recent deteriorations with Pakistan, and the war on terror, the Western Sahara issue has seemingly been ignored.

How do you feel the US Congress should proceed?

Leave your comments in the comment section to have your view heard.

Why Morocco matters

Pundits do not, as a rule, make good prophets, but that does not stop them from aligning themselves with various scenarios of what will happen in the Arab world in the wake of the regime change in Tunisia. While Egypt followed Tunisia with its own serious domestic uprisings calling for changing the government, and Yemen may well face the same challenge, a broad brush approach is hardly useful in defining what US policy options are or ought to be.
Morocco is a case in point. It is a strong monarchy with a representative Parliament, and its King enjoys a unique religious and political leadership status with his people. It is a country that has moved away from authoritarian behavior and invested in institutional change that is opening political space for its citizens and responsible opposition to critique government policies, exercise individual freedoms, and seek opportunities from a market-centered economy.
Morocco is not Tunisia or Egypt or Yemen. It has steadily and coherently worked to enlarge opportunities for its people and reduce conditions that undermine stability – whether through programs to reduce poverty and its drag on economic and social development, or to empower women and to encourage youth to take greater ownership of their future. This solid record of accomplishments has been referred to as the “Moroccan exception.”
A great deal of real and tangible progress has been made in Morocco to allow for popular expression through a flourishing civil society and free elections. Current efforts to address the needs of the poor through projects like the National Human Development Initiative and affordable housing programs continue to contribute to raising the standard of living of the most disadvantaged sectors of society. And while much more remains to be accomplished to advance further political reforms, the King's latest effort to undertake a thorough overhaul of the judiciary to ensure its independence is yet another progressive step forward that distinguishes Morocco from other countries in the Middle East and North Africa where regimes have been slow to rebuild a positive relationship between the State and the people.
Some analysts lately have pointed out that the King of Morocco enjoys popular legitimacy and support in the country by virtue of his role as the Kingdom's religious leader and his responsibilities as Commander of the Faithful. While this is true, it is not the whole truth. In fact, the King’s legitimacy in Morocco is, as importantly if not largely, the result of his efforts to redefine the citizen-State relationship through the kind of steady reforms that are lacking elsewhere in this region. Morocco has never held itself out as a model for others and has not undertaken these reforms in order to offer anyone any lessons. Reforms in Morocco are Moroccan inspired and have been the product of a consensus between the monarchy, political parties, civil society, and the people themselves through a process of dialogue and public debate.
While Morocco’s experience and the specifics of its ongoing process of liberalization may not be possible for other societies in the MENA region, there are certainly some lessons to be learned here. The international community, particularly the United States, should note that long term peace, prosperity, and stability in the Middle East and North Africa will require encouraging the kinds of reforms that Morocco has been implementing for more than a decade. Morocco didn’t wait for a crisis to begin its progressive policies. Morocco confronted similar challenges by making choices that promote both stability and democracy. Those who wish to promote peace, freedom, growth, and prosperity in the region would do well to recognize and provide meaningful support to those already on the right road and seek their quiet advice and counsel on how best to help those who are struggling to move forward without destabilizing their countries.

By Edward M. Gabriel served as U.S. Ambassador to Morocco from 1997 to 2001, and currently advises the government of Morocco.

Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart Speech on the Western Sahara and Morocco

Staging a Human Rights Atrocity

By JENNIFER RUBIN - 11.23.2010 - 5:25 PM
It has become a familiar pattern: violent provocateurs create a confrontation with lightly armed anti-riot squads. The state officials defend themselves. The instigators claim there has been an atrocity. The flotilla incident? Why, yes. But also a recent confrontation between Morocco and the violent Polisario Front, which refuses to accept a Moroccan autonomy plan for the Western Sahara and keeps refugees warehoused in dismal camps in Algeria.
As the Israeli government did in the flotilla incident, the government of Morocco has put out a video of a recent incident in Laayoune. This video, which is exceptionally graphic but should be reviewed in full to appreciate the extent of the Polisario Front’s propaganda campaign, shows peaceful demonstrators in a tent city (who came to protest overcrowding, totally unrelated to the dispute in the Western Sahara) dispersed without incident by Moroccan police, loaded onto government-provided buses, and exiting the area. Then onto the scene come the Polisario Front, with knives, rock-throwers, incendiary devices, and much brutality. What unfolds — vicious attacks on the police, the ambush of an ambulance, buildings burning in the city center, a near beheading of a policeman, etc. — is evidence that the Polisario Front is the aggressor in this incident.
And yet the Polisario Front, with a willing media, played the incident up as a human rights violation — by the government of Morocco. This report duly regurgitates the Polisario Front’s claim that the Moroccan government was guilty “of carrying out ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Laayoune and warned the international community that if it did not intervene to find a peaceful solution, ‘the Sahrawi people will resort to all measures, including war.’” This AP report tells us: “Moroccan forces raided a protest camp in the disputed territory of Western Sahara on Monday and unrest spread to a nearby city, with buildings ablaze and rioters roaming the streets. Five Moroccan security officials and one demonstrator were killed, reports said.” One would think that the government’s forces instigated the violence with the peaceful protesters there, and it would be hard to glean — as the video shows — that the protest camp had been dismantled before the Polisario Front forces attacked the police.
So what is going on here? Well, it seems that the incident came just as there was to begin the “re-opening of informal U.N.-sponsored talks Monday in Manhasset, New York, between Morocco and the Polisario Front, which long waged a guerrilla war on Morocco in a bid to gain independence for the desert region and its native Saharawi people.” Hmm. Sort of like the killing of Jews that inevitably breaks out when “peace” talks begin between Israel and the PA.
Whether the group is the PA or the Polisario Front, the modus operandi is the same — stage violence, claim victimhood, label the incident as a human rights atrocity, and thereby delay or disrupt peace negotiations that might resolve the conflict and leave the terrorists without a cause. You would think the media would be on to it. Unless, of course, they really don’t care about getting the story straight.

Moroccan parliament to probe W. Sahara violence

RABAT — Moroccan members of parliament on Monday decided to set up a commission to probe the violent events on November 8 that marked the dismantling of a settlement camp in the Western Sahara.
"It's the first time that a parliamentary commission of inquiry will work in the (Western) Sahara," Saad-Eddine Othmani, an MP from the opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD) and one of the vice-presidents of the commission, told AFP.
According to a statement published Monday by the parliament, the commission will investigate "the events at the Gdim Izik camp and the acts of violence recently witnessed in Laayoune," the chief town in the Moroccan-controlled territory.
Moroccan security forces on November 8 stormed and dismantled the Gdim Izik camp erected outside Laayoune by some 15,000 Sahrawis who objected to living conditions inside the town.
Violence erupted, in which Morocco says that 11 security officers and two civilians were killed, while the Polisario Front, which wants independence for the Western Sahara, says the casualty toll was far higher.
"Among the objectives of this commission, which will work for at least 45 days, are the pinpointing of responsibilities for what happened in Laayoune, from the putting up of the first tents right up to the events that followed the dismantling of the camp," Othmani said.
On November 25, the European parliament said it favoured a United Nations inquiry into the violence and voiced "the greatest concern about the significant deterioration of the situation in Western Sahara."
Tens of thousands of Moroccans marched Sunday in the northern port city of Casablanca to denounce what they saw as a "biased and unjust" resolution by the European parliament, accusing Spain's opposition Popular Party of being behind it.
Spain was the colonial power in the Western Sahara until 1975, when settlers left and Morocco later annexed the phosphate-rich territory.
Morocco has already rejected the notion of an investigation into the violence by the UN force deployed in the Western Sahara, MINURSO, which is monitoring a 1991 ceasefire between government troops and the Polisario Front and is mandated to oversee a referendum on the territory's future.
Polisario, backed notably by neighbouring Algeria, wants a UN-organised referendum that would give Sahrawis a choice among three options: being part of Moroccan territory, independence or self-government under Moroccan sovereignty.
Morocco will only agree to broad autonomy under its sovereignty and rejects any notion of independence.