Western Sahara: After RFK Center, Clinton puts pressure on Morocco

Once again the Alaouite Kingdom was given a stark and serious warning for its systematic human rights violations in the occupied Saharawi territories.   Aggravating factor: the slap in the face was given by its American friends.

As the old saying goes “spare the rod and spoil the child”! The US State Department has actually submitted to the Congress a damning report on the violation of human rights by Morocco in Western Sahara. The situation raises “serious concerns”, points out broadly the US State Department’s report.

This report was presented at the explicit request of the US Congress that had adopted an act, in December 2011, demanding Ms. Clinton’s Department to draw up every year an assessment of human rights in the occupied territories.     And even better, the US Congress had decided that all aid granted to Morocco was made conditional on the strict respect for human rights.

We must trust that the report submitted by Ms. Clinton’s services is more worrying than reassuring for “our friend, the king”. Going through this document, a copy of which was diffused today by APS, we can see that Morocco has been caught in the act of exceeding the limit.

The US State Department found prima facie to stress that “Western Sahara is a non self-governing territory over which Morocco claims sovereignty, a position that is not accepted by the international community”. It is a clear manner to notify the kingdom that its claim for the annexation is null and void.

A slap in the face of the Makhzen

It is also recalled that the UN Security Council had established in 1991 the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) “to enable the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence and integration with the kingdom of Morocco”.

Indeed, the Moroccan autonomy plan contradicts this US assertion. Especially in view of the fact that Ms. Clinton’s Department notes that “the United States has recently renewed its support to MINURSO through the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2044 in April this year”.

The document shows that this famous referendum “never took place and Western Sahara remains de facto under the Moroccan administrative authority and this happens despite the fact that Morocco is not recognized by the UN as the administering Power of Western Sahara”.

In conclusion, the United States implicitly deprives the Makhzen of all political cover in its vain attempt to legitimize its colonization.  Regarding the situation on the ground, the kingdom got once again a rap on the knuckles from its American “ally”.

Rabat got caught violating the rules

Hillary Clinton’s Department has thus informed the US Congress that “the overall human rights situation in the Saharawi territories raises a number of serious concerns, including restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly, the use of arbitrary detention and physical and verbal abuse against the detainees in the course of their arrests and imprisonments”.

What about the Saharawi’s freedom of expression? The report notes that Morocco considers the claims in favour of Western Sahara’s independence as “a serious offence against security”.

“As such, there are continuing restrictions in particular on the rights to peaceful assembly and on those publications that call for the independence or for a referendum with independence as an option”, ascertains the US State Department. In the same vein, it should be pointed out that “major demonstrations on human rights or any demonstration specifically in favour of the independence of the Saharawi territories are strictly prohibited by law in Morocco”.

This “hot” document also underlines that “the people arrested for having protested against the integration of Western Sahara into the Kingdom of Morocco have not always had a fair public trial”. The report also refers that the “distribution of leaflets calling for the independence of Western Sahara or for a referendum with independence as an option is prohibited”.

The rude awakening of the U.S.

The US report also states that “Moroccan law prohibits citizens from expressing their opposition to the government’s official position regarding Western Sahara”. On this basis, the report points out that “most media and bloggers practice self-censorship on this issue”, while “bloggers who suspect of being closely watched by the Moroccan authorities get then to a situation of “concealing their identity”.

The US State Department recalled the findings made by the delegation of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice (RFK Center) that described in its report “grave human rights violations committed in Western Sahara”. The US State Department finally notes that the Moroccan government follows “strict procedures that drastically limit the ability of NGOs and activists to meet with journalists”.

Similarly, Ms. Clinton’s Department informed the US Congress that Morocco “refuses” a permanent presence of an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights or a human rights mechanism as part of the UN Mission’s (MINURSO) mandate.

It must also be made clear that it is in the light of this report that the US House of Representatives and the Senate will decide whether or not to grant financial aids to the Moroccan government.  Reading this damning report, it must be noted that the kingdom has no margin for error now.

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