Moroccan sensitivities over the Western Sahara-Polisario dispute almost resulted in the sabotage of South Africa’s initiative in North Africa, reports Gaye Davis
TOP-LEVEL diplomatic efforts — including a telephone call from President Nelson Mandela to the king of Morocco — brought Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo’s recent North African trip back from the brink of disaster.
Nzo was already in Angola on the initial leg of his trip when Moroccan diplomats raised objections — about his itinerary and his intentions.
Nzo was to have gone from Luanda directly to the Moroccan capital of Rabat, ostensibly for bilateral discussions, and from there to Algeria where he intended meeting the leaders of Polisario, the movement which claims Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara as its own in the name of the Saharawi Repubic.
Moroccan sensitivities were sparked by reports in South Africa indicating that Nzo wanted to help mediate in the unresolved dispute over the region.
Moroccan concerns were compounded by the meetings that the South African foreign mission in Rabat was setting up for Nzo “and the nature of the discussions”, foreign affairs director-general Rusty Evans confirmed this week. “They queried whether there was not more to the context of his visit than met the eye.”
Nor were they prepared to have Nzo travel directly from Rabat to Algeria for meetings with the Polisario leadership, he said.
“The arrangements being made in Rabat — against the background of reports here — caused the Moroccans to raise directly with (Nzo) in Angola the question of clarity of his agenda in Rabat. It seemed to the Moroccans that he wanted to get involved in talks,” Evans said.
Certainly, the understanding of the ANC’s Department of International Affairs and its Youth League – which has fraternal links with Polisario’s youth wing — was that the visit would involve “an even-handed reaching out to both sides”, if not actual mediation, said ANCYL international affairs representative Neville Naidoo.
ANC MP Blade Nzimande, who chairs the party’s national executive sub-committee on international affairs, said: “That was the whole aim of the trip — to discuss the Western Sahara issue.”
Nzo spent an extra day in Luanda. During this time, Mandela telephoned the king of Morocco to reassure him of Nzo’s intentions, Evans confirmed, and Nzo’s itinerary was re-worked to make Rabat the last stop and enabling him to return on schedule.
“South Africa has an important bilateral relationship with Morocco and you have to take care of it. The Western Sahara-Polisario issue has a direct bearing on it because of Moroccan sensitivities and this has to be managed,” said Evans.
While in Rabat, Nzo signed an agreement establishing a Joint Commission of Co-operation between South Africa and the Kingdom of Morocco to ease co-operation in fields of a bilateral nature, such as trade and transport.
In Tindouf he spent time with Polisario leaders. An old ally of the ANC’s, Polisario has been agitating for South Africa to honour a June 1995 commitment by Mandela to extend diplomatic recognition to the Saharawi Republic. Moroccan diplomatic efforts have focused on preventing this.
The government’s official position is to hold off, pending the outcome of a United Nations-sponsored referendum, but is also under internal political pressure.
Briefing members of parliament’s foreign affairs portfolio committee recently, Moroccan ambassador Mohamm-ed Said Benryane urged South Africa not to “prejudge” the outcome of the UN referendum. Morocco occupies two-thirds of the mineral-rich Western Sahara, claiming it as part of a greater Morocco, even though the old colonial power, Spain, accepted the independence of Western Sahara in 1975. Morocco claims Polisario is waging a struggle for secession, rather than self-determination, and its relations with Algeria are coloured by the support that country gives to Polisario.
A UN security council resolution extended the UN organisers’ mandate to May 31, in an effort to get the troubled process back on track.