| Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Confirms US Support to Morocco's Autonomy Plan |
| HASSAN MASIKY | |||||||||||
 Wash, Nov. 4, 09— As expected, the United States position in the Western Sahara conflict came up during the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visit to Morocco. During a press conference with her Moroccan counterpart, Mrs. Clinton reaffirmed the American position in support of Morocco’s “expansive autonomy plan in the Sahara”. Answering questions during a press conference in Marrakech where she is attending the sixth ministerial meeting of the Forum for the Future, Mrs. Clinton stated “It is important for me to reaffirm that there has been no change in our policy”.
The Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara has been the centerpiece of Morocco’s position on the Western Sahara conflict. As UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara Christopher Ross gets ready for a fifth round of negotiations between all concerned parties, the American position reinforcing Morocco’s approach, and will without a doubt put pressure on the Algerians to soften their stubborn rejections of Moroccan overtures to put an end to the longest ongoing conflict in Africa. Mrs. Clinton’s remarks came on the heels of a failed attempt by the Algerian lobby in Washington to convince the world of a change in Washington’s position on the Sahara dispute. Algiers hopes of winning a more “understanding” attitude form the Obama administration on this issue were unfulfilled. In fact, Mrs. Clinton’s remarks are not new. The Clinton and Bush administration had similar views on the best way to resolve the conflict. The portrayal of the Secretary’s statements as being pro-Moroccan, as being reported by the Algerian press, is not accurate. Morocco’s initial attitude when the conflict erupted was to absorb the Sahara and integral part of the Kingdom, while Algerian refused any solution other than an independence for the Western Sahara under the Polisario Front. By signaling a wiliness to back a local autonomy for the Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, the American administration is choosing the middle ground. The Algerian government is displeased with Mrs. Clinton statements. While there is no official word from the Algerian Foreign Ministry, some pro-government news outlets published critical articles of the US Secretary’s position, minimizing her role in the US administration and disregarding her views as more personal than the official American position on the conflict. However, some Algerian newspapers, namely Liberte and L’expression , went beyond the acceptable norms of professional journalism in publishing critical columns. In a front page article, Liberte blasted the former first lady and the current Secretary of state in her own right - http://www.libertealgerie.com/edit.php?id=124476&titre=Quand%20Clinton%20flirte%20avec%20le%20Maroc- with a sexist headline and disparaging comment s about former President Clinton and the integrity of the Mrs. Clinton. The Algerians have the entitlement to protest the Secretary’s statements, but they not have the right to be disrespectful and malicious in the manner of their objection. While the Moroccan Foreign Minister can temporary rejoice over the American explicit backing of Morocco's position, the Kingdom has a long way to go before closing the page on the Sahara conflict. Morocco has yet to fully explain to the international community the details of its autonomy plan; the Moroccan government must reform the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs(Corcas) to encompass all views and tendencies within the Moroccan Saharans; and Rabat ought to clean up its human rights image in light of the recent freedom of the press “incidents”.
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Comments (4)
christophe99
said:
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why to look for another way ? The main problem of Sahara is , to ask wether Saharians poeple accept or not to be under the Marrocan protection. What I already read and listened that Saharians like to be free of any power either Marrocan or Algerian. What we understand and we can conclude unfurtunatly that the war betwen people living under pressure of the queen and poeple claiming their freedom, is not far away. I m not concerned about the problem but it is just my opinion , I say it , I writte it... the colonialism throuth the world must be banned. |
3alaoui
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... Read my lips " she said according to her, but not according to the government of the USA" she is speaking fromn her perspective...meaning nothing...as far as we know the Sahraouis people do not want to become marocans...sorry |
Osama ben liwan
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... The truth is that initially the US under Obama made a U turn in supporting the Autonomy. If the US support has not changed, then why they have to wait ONE YEAR before stating that they support the autonomy? After realizing that Morocco has been an unconditional ally of the US, now they came back to their senses. They also realize that it so stupid to ask M6 to take a lead in helping to resolve the middle east conflict but at the same time they had not said a thing about our number one issue in Morocco, the Moroccan sahara. They are also realizing that Algeria is the root of the problem and that Morocco will never allow Algeria to take a hostage the entire Maghreb. We need to remember that Algeria is run by the same folks from the on start of the conflict and it is in their interest to keep the Sahara problem alive. Morocco is now run by a forwad looking generation and they seem to be working harder to get Morocco going in the right direction. I hope that the Algerian people rid themselves of their leaders that have been nothing but a backward selfish oldies. Considering the resources Algeria possesses , the Algerian people deserve to be in a lot better situation. |
Ricky
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Agree This is a positive sign from the US support and hope it will solve the issue soon http://www.discountedtravels.co.uk |
