S A H A R

At a press conference on May 1 in Algiers Sr Suhrez said tha

PoUmIo Attacks in Morocco 'Proper - Convening of UN Securlb Council by Morocco - Meeting of Committee

of Wi Men

ri@ woad meet. an

KEESING'S CONTEMPORARY ARCHIVES November 9, 191

O n June 13 Polisario attacked the town of Tan Tan in south- but responded simply to an administrative need. Recalling that tt western Morocco [see map on page 295671, claiming later UCD had recognised Polisario [see page 295651, Sr Oreja Aguin to have destroyed the townvs port and airport [for previous said that the Spanish Government's reason for not taking this ste attack on Tan Tan on J ~ ~ . 28-29, see page 295671 and that was that self-determination must not be pre-ernpted but must corn

about by means of a referendum in accordance with OAU resoli Morocco had suffered heavy losses and had had an aircraft tions [see shot down; a Moroccan statement, on the other hand, claimed that the Polisario unit involved in the battle had been wiped The Spanish Foreign Minister's remarks were denounced by M out. polisario also claimed that the Tan Tan attack followed Boucetta on Aug. 23 as interference in Morocco's internal affair the "liberation of Jdiria" (in the north of the Moroccan sector which could lead to a "redefinition of relations with Spain".

o f Western Sahara) on June 5, and claimed in a communiqut On June 23 the "committee of wise men" (set up at th~ published on June 18 to have killed 17 Moroccans between 1978 OAU summit to mediate in the Western Sahara conflict June 7 and 12 in the Lebouirate (near Zag), Bir Enzaran oasis and now comprising the heads of state of Sudan, Mali, Nigeria and Guelta Zemmour areas. Guinea and the Ivory Coast-see page 29566-the Tanzania1

On June 28 Polisario announced that it had again Tan President having dropped out after Tanzania had recognizet Tan the previous day, causing wmany deaths in the enemy the SADR) met in Khartoum to draw up a report to present tc (and later claiming to have killed 247 and captured 17 Moroccans, the forthcoming OAU summit in Monrovia (July 17-21). ln r whereas Moroccan figures referred to 60 Polisario and 20 Moroccan communiqut published on June 23 the committee made the dead). following points.

As a result o f the June 13 Tan Tan attack, Morocco on June (i) All the interested parties except Morocco agreed that the righl 15 requested an urgent meeting of the UN security council to of the Western Sahara people to self-deiermination had not been examine the "acts of aggression perpetrated by the ~ l ~ ~ ~ i ~ ~ exercised; (ii) the tripartite agreement of November 1975 transferred G~~~~~~~~~ against M ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ , ~ . ~h~ meeting began on June 20 only the administration of the territory and not its sovereignty to

Morocco and Mauritania; (iii) only Morocco maintained that the and turned into a debate On the Western Sahara right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people had been exercised during which the president of the Security Council, Mr 01% by the vote taken in the Yemari (the former Spanish Sahara General ~ r o y a n o v s k ~ , invited a Polisario representative to speak for Assembly) on Feb. 26, 1976, when the tripartite agreement had been the first time. ratified [see page 277471.

Mr Mohamed Bedjaoui, the Algerian ambassador to Paris, accused The committee recommended (i) that there should be an immediate Morocco on June 20 of calling on the Security Council just before general ceasefire to make the atmosphere suitable for peace in the a meeting of the "committee of wise men" [see below] and the OAU region; (ii) that there should be a free referendum throughout Western summit in Monrovia [on July 17-21-see 29840 A] with the sole aim Sahara to give the people a choice between total independence, the of justifying in advance the "aggression which it is preparing" maintenance of the status quo, or union with either Morocco or against Algeria. Mr Bedjaoui described Morocco as an "aggressor Mauritania; (iii) that in the course of the OAU summit a special five- pretending to be the victim of aggression", who "wants to add to its member committee should be established to supervise such a refer- 1975 blunder [i.e. when Morocco first staked its claim to Western endum and to apply the pertinent resolutions with UN co-operation Sahara by means of the "green marchv-see 27575 A] a fresh one and on the principle of "one man, one vote"; and (iv) that all inter- which might throw the region into chaos". Mr Bedjaoui further ested parties should meet to discuss co-operation in applying these accused Morocco on June 21 of trying to divert attention from the recommendations. real problem of "the decolonization of Western Sahara", and affirmed that "no Algerian soldier has crossed the Moroccan border". The OAU resolution which was accordingly passed on the

basis of these recommendations, with Mauritania voting in However, at a press conference on June 20 the Moroccan Minister favour and in the absence of Morocco [see page 298411, called of State for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Mr Mohammed

Boucetta, said that Morocco,s aim in calling the meeting was to for a complete ceasefire in the territory and for a referendum draw international attention to a situation which could turn into a to be held under UN "pervision. "conflagration". Rupture of Ceasefire by Polisario - Signature of Algiers

Addressing the Security Council o n June 22 the Polisario Agreement on Mauritanian Withdrawal from Western Sahara representative in New York, Mr Madjid Abdallah, asked ~ l t h o u g h talks had resumed between Polisario and Mauri- Morocco to follow Mauritania's example and seek peace talks tania on June 30 prior to the OAU summit, polisario announced on Western Sahara- The Moroccan ambassador to the UN, Mr on July 12 in an unexpected move that the Front had decided Abdelatif Filali, who remained in the chamber during the to resume hostilities against Mauritania, and on the same day speech, said that Morocco recognized only Algeria as a valid its forces attacked the Mauritanian garrison at Techla (in the speaker in the debate. south of Tiris El Gharbia). Polisario stated that peace talks

At the request of Morocco the Security Council debate was with Mauritania over the past year had not borne sufficient indefinitely suspended on June 25, Mr Filali stating that King results to justify an extension of the ceasefire. c ass an was reacting positively to an a ~ p e a l from President polisario's action was denounced on July 13 as an expression Nemery t o keep the conflict in the African sphere and to let of "defiance and insultH by Mr Abdalla, who said that Mauri. the OAU deal with it. tania's position on Western Sahara remained unchanged and

The June 13 Tan Tan attack occurred on the eve of a visit that his Government might call on its "traditional allies", to Morocco by King Juan Carlos o f Spain [for earlier post- Morocco and France, t o help it in the event of fresh Polisario ponement of the visit, see page 295651, who was reported to attacks. have Put t o King Hassan the Spanish position on Western Mr Bachir Mustapha Sayed (the deputy secretary-general of Sahara and t o have outlined what Spain was prepared to d o t o Polisario) on July 14 proposed the holding of a quadripartite peace bring about peace. At a press conference on June 16 just before conference involving Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria and the SADR the Spanish King's departure King Hassan expressed satisfac- under UN and OAU auspices, to be accompanied by the withdrawal tion at the results of the visit, stating that Spain had reaffirmed of all "troops of aggression" from Western Sahara. Such a plan that its -international responsibilities" regarding western had previously been put forward by Spain, but Mr Sayed said on the

sahara had ended on ~ ~ b . 26, ,976 [i.e. the date of spanish subject of Spanish and French mediation: "After seeming to en- withdrawal from its former colony-see 27746 and had courage the dynamic of peace created by the ceasefire decision, these elected to be ''a bridge between Africa and Europe, like countries have backpedalled. They have done nothing to help Mauri-

tania get out of the wasps' nest of the war, and instead have played Morocco". However, King Hassan said that he had recom- on the deterioration of [he mended the Spanish King not to offer to mediate in the con- flict, in order that Morocco~s relations with spain could remain Following these developments the Mauritanian Information close in the future. Minister, Lt.-Col. Ahmed Mahmoud Ould El Houssein, stated

in a radio interview on July 17 that Mauritania "expressly The Spanish Foreign Minister, Sr Marcelin0 Oreja Aguirre, sub- recognized the right to self-determination of the people of

~ 2 ~ & 4 ~ ~ ~ ~ r ~ ~ r f i ~ B t ~ ~ e Ln", $ ~ ~ i ~ ~ $ $ ~ i~~$$ Tiris El Gharbia" and that it intended to fulfil its responsibilities Western Sahara continued, as in the past, to be an international towards these people. Mauritania had begun a campaign for territory. In another interview diffused by Europa Press on ~ u g . 23, Peace, t o which Polisario had responded "with an intransigent Sr Oreja Aguirre reaffirmed these views and also stated that "pend- attitude, demanding endlessly the evacuation pure and simple ing the achievement of self-determination for the Sahrawis" the of Tiris El Gharbia". He continued that Mauritania had res- Moroccan presence in Western Sahara did not signify sovereignty ponsibilities before the international community "for the

b e t 9,1979 KEESING'S CONTE~

ion of the region and for the security of its peoples" that even if Mauritania agreed to withdraw this

tribute to peace in the region. n Prime Minister, Lt.-Col. Khouna Ould ted on July 31, after Polisario had released

captured in the Techla battle [see above], and fol- uritanian vote in favour of the OAU resolution ara [see above], that Mauritania had decided to

elf from this "unjust and fratricidal war". His no territorial claims on Western Sahara but would y administer" the territory until self-determination in the terms of UN and OAU resolutions. Lt.-Col.

pressed Mauritania's "sincere desire" to recom- otiations with Polisario, and said that if a global

y means of a quadripartite meeting was impracticable, k our own solution with Polisario". tta warned Mauritania in a statement published by the

,agency MAP on Aug. 1 that if existing agreements between and Mauritania were ignored, Morocco would adopt the

o defend its territorial integrity and to guarantee and the whole region. Lt.-Col. Ould El Houssein day that his country would act "with full inds- decided to "confront any threat to its security, y come". He said that if the Mauritanian people

n consulted over the Western Sahara issue, "they have consented to so many sacrifices for the sake of a

mmenced on Aug. 3 between Polisario and Mauri- on Aug. 5 the two sides signed a "definitive" peace

ire of the Islamic Republic of Mauri- to install a just and lasting peace in

of peaceful coexistence, mutual respect

nt need to find a definitive global solution the two parties which will guarantee the

1 national rights, and the region peace and

Islamic Republic of Mauritania solemnly declares that it any territorial claims on Western Sahara nor will it make

f the non-aligned conference."

Govermqeat &o support .our initiative. for., peace e l l i c o * W g , destnfction&d d W i b -

In the first official Moroccan response to the Algiers agree- ment, MI Boucetta on Aug. 9 described it as "null and void" and deplored the "frivolity and ignorance with which the sig- natories have defied all bilateral and international agreements"; if Mauritania went ahead and ceded the territory to Polisario, he said, Morocco would of course occupy it. On the same day Morocco announced its decision to withdraw from Mauritania , some 6 , m troops stationed mainly in the Zouerate mining region under a 1977 defence agreement with Mauritania [see 28492 C]. (Morocco had previously, on Jan. 1, 1979, been requested to withdraw all its troops from Mauritania-see page 29566-by a deadline of March 31, 1979, but Lt.-Col. Bousseif subsequently withdrew this request-see page 29675.)

Meanwhile, the Senegalese Prime Minister, Mr Abdou Diouf, assured King Hassan on Aug. 9 during a brief visit to Rabat of his assistance in the Western Sahara conflict, but called for a peaceful solution. [For Mauritania's relations with Senegal, see 29674 A.]

" Lt.-Col. Kaydalla arrived in Morocco on Aug. 10 for talks with King Hassan. Before leaving Morocco at the conclusion of his visit later that day, he read out a declaration to the press which said (i) that Mauritania had "renounced all claims to Tuis El Gharbia and considers itself definitively disengaged from this conflict". (ii) that Morocco, "noting this new situa- tion, intends to ensure the defence of its rights, its territorial ..

integrity, its security and the stability of the region" and (iii): that Morocco and Mauritania had agreed not to undertake "anything which might damage the reciprocal security of the :. two countries" and to develop bilaterally "privileged rela- tions".

The visit was, however, cut short by a diplomatic incident when the Moroccan Government permitted the former Education Minister ' !

of Mauritania, Lt.-Col. Mohamed Ould Ba Ould Abdelkader [see ,~

29925 A], to hold a press conference in Rabat in which he called : on a "committee of free officers" in Mauritania to rise up against "the capitulation of irresponsible leaders who betray their alliances", and also announced the formation of a "democratic Islamic front of Mauritania". The Mauritanian delegation described the incident as a, ., provocation and left the country several hours early.

people" were flown to Rabat, where they swore allegiance to . . King Hassan in a solemn ceremony on Aug. 14 and were given : -. r. automatic weapons with which to defend their territory, as a,.: .: symbolic gesture of Morocco's intention to arm civilians i n , , areas bordering on Algeria. Mr Boucetta said on Aug. 13 that: Moroccan troops in Mauritania were being withdrawn and: would be concentrated in the southern sector of Western. - mars. ' "riris El Gharbia was renamed Oued Eddahab (the Arabic: I for Rio de Oro, as the province was known under Spanish.,- ' a

rule) and was declared a province of Morocco. An official-. .

communiquC from Rabat on Aug. 15 said that elections would . .

soon be organized in Oued Eddahab, and at the end of August an extraordinary session of the Moroccan Parliament decided: that three new seats should be allocated to the new "province", - , .

bringing the total number of seats in the Chamber of Repre-. :Setl;tatives to 267. ;:%'As Morocco took control, a fierce battle was being fought with. .@ Ptilisario at the Bir Enzaran oasis, each side later claiming to have Micted heavy casualties on the other. -"*On Aug. 14 MI Brahim announced from Paris that hence- f ~ f t h Polisario intended to strike inside Morocco and Western S b a r a "as hard and as deep as possible".

! Mr Brahim read out a declaration stating that the Moroccan aqupation of Tiris El Gharbia represented a violation of the sove-

. m t y of the SADR and of Mauritania, an escalation of the "war oE, extermination", and an aggression against Mauritania, whose e e n c e in Tiis El Gharbia would come to an end only when the Alpjers agreement provisions cameinte effect" Polisario subseqwtly

I

29920 KEESING'S CONTEP

announced on Aug. 18 that it had occupied the Moroccan town of Touizgui, killing 25 Moroccan troops and wounding a number of others.

After an extraordinary session of the Mauritanian CMSN on Aug. 13, Lt.-Col. Kaydalla stated that his Government con- sidered Morocco's occupation of Tiris El Gharbia as "aggres- sion against Mauritania's provisional administration". He announced that Mauritania would leave the southern sector, beginning o n Aug. 15; demanded the withdrawal of all Moroc- can troops from Mauritanian territory; and called o n the UN and the OAU to "fulfil their responsibilities". On the same day he sent Mr Abdalla on a mission to Rabat to reaffirm Mauritania's desire for peace and its concern to avoid "getting out of one war and into another".

It was reported on Aug. 15 that all Mauritanian adminis- trators had left Dakhla but that the Moroccan authorities had refused to allow "several hundred" Mauritanian nationals to leave the town, and that demonstrators in Nouakchott (the Mauritanian capital) had protested against Moroccan "expan- sionism".

In the meantime, Mauritania and Algeria on Aug. 13 re- established di~lomat ic relations. which the former had severed in March 1976 after Algeria recognized the newly proclaimed SADR [see page 277481.

At a lengthy press conference in Fez on Aug. 19, King Hassan, who had previously referred to Polisario as an Algerian force, now claimed that it was merely a Mauritanian opposition movement, and that if it took power in Mauritania or invaded the latter country, Morocco would regard this as an internal Mauritanian affair.

King Hassan said that he had no more territorial claims, with the exception of those to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla [see 28714 A; page 295651, but that he would defend Moroccan territory "to the very end". He warned that if a war broke out between Morocco and Algeria the only victor would be Libya, which he maintained was trying to manoeuvre itself into a key position in North Africa and the Sahara; such a war would, he said, be disas- trous for both Morocco and Algeria.

The Mauritanian Council of Ministers on Aug. 20 responded "with indignation" to Kine Hassan's declarations. to his "flagrant interference" in ~ a u r i t a n i a ' s internal affairs, and to his "clear wish to destabilize our country". Furthermore, following a meeting on Aug. 22-23, the Mauritanian CMSN recommended the abrogation of the May 1977 bilateral defence agreement with Morocco [see 28492 C] and declared the "total neutrality" of Mauritania in the Western Sahara conflict. The CMSN also called on the Government to "work out and apply a new policy for its own defence to ensure, on the one hand, territorial integrity and, on the other, to dissuade any potential aggressors".

In one of the worst incidents reported to date, Polisario on Aug. 24 attacked the strategic Moroccan garrison of Lebouirate and claimed to have killed 792 Moroccan soldiers, to have caused numerous wounded and to have captured 92. Moroccan reinforcements from Zag were reported to have been repulsed and to have suffered heavy losses, but a subsequent Moroccan communiquk claimed that Moroccan troops retook the garrison on Aug. 25 and that an inquiry had been set up to determine why the garrison was taken by surprise. According to a later report from Polisario, the commander of the Lebouirate gar- rison was executed without trial in September for his part in allowing the garrison to be taken.

Mr Sayed (the Polisario deputy secretary-general) held a press conference near Tindouf on Aug. 30 and exhibited both prisoners and war material allegedly captured in the Bir Enzaran (Aug. 11) and Lebouirate attacks. Mr Sayed said that if Morocco was supplied with fresh arms "from one or two of the great powers", Polisario could also obtain arms "from other great powers who will not stand by with arms folded". He also criticized the French Government for not putting pressure on Mauritania to play a leading peace role and added that Polisario would not accept a French military presence "on a single inch of our regional territory".

Mr Sayed's remarks concerning France followed the publication on Aug. 29 of a French communiau6 in suDDort of Mauritanian independence and sovereignty in whiih the ~rench Government urged that Mauritania's borders should be respected followine, its with- drawal from the conflict. The cornmun~ue said that t%e Aug. 5 peace agreement created a new situation for north-west Africa, and that France was willing to help with the "necessary work of recon- struction and development" in Mauritania.

~IPORARY ARCHIVES November 9, 1979

In a new development in the conflict, the Moroccan MAP news agency claimed on Sept. 8 that Sahrawi forces loyal to Morocco and known as Aosario (Association of the Natives of Saguia El Hamra and Rio de Oro) had on Sept. 4 attacked and killed several Algerian soldiers on Algerian territory, some 40 kilometres east of Tindouf. Quoting a communique from Aosario, the Moroccan agency said that the soldiers killed belonged to "Algerian special forces operating in the guise of the pseudo-Polisario" whose task was to guard the "concentra- tion camps in which Sahrawi families have been held hostage since 1976". The Aosario communiquk also expressed the movement's determination to continue the armed struggle "until all Sahrawi families held by the Algerian Government are freed".

On Sept. 16 Polisario claimed to have killed 653 Moroccan troops in an operation at Zag, where a large part of Morocco's forces were massed, to have caused many wounded and to have taken 41 prisoners. Morocco for its part claimed to have inflicted -heavy casualties in a battle on Sept. 13 at Lemsied.

Other International Attitudes to Conflict At the summit of non-aligned nations held in Havana on

Sept. 3-9, a declaration was issued (i) recalling that "the people of Western Sahara have not yet exercised their right to self- determination and no transfer of sovereignty has taken place in this territory"; (ii) expressing the support of the non-aligned nations for the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence; (iii) welcoming the peace agreement between Mauritania and Polisario; and (iv) deploring the "extension and armed occupation by Morocco of the part of Western Sahara formerly administered by Mauritania". During and after the summit, a number of non-aligned countries-including Nicaragua, Jamaica, Guyana, Ghana, Uganda and Mexico (an observer)-recognized the SADR.

On Sept. 2, however, Egypt (also a non-aligned country) expressed "full military support" for Morocco in the Western Sahara conflict and said that it would support Morocco "to the very end", despite Egypt's differences with Morocco over the Middle East. Shipments of Egyptian arms were subsequently reported to have arrived in Morocco.

King Hassan on Sept. 12 welcomed an invitation from Presi- dent Bourguiba of Tunisia on Sept. 9 to attend a summit with President Chadli of Algeria in Tunis on the Western Sahara conflict. However, Algeria implicitly rejected the initiative in a statement published by the Algerian agency APS which said that Algeria should not be asked to "play the role with the Sahrawi people which the Egyptian regime plays with regard to the Palestinian people", and that "the people of Western Sahara should pronounce freely on their own destiny".

King Hassan proposed on Aug. 30 in a letter to President Tolbert of Liberia, the new President of the OAU, that a con- ference should be convened of all the countries bordering on the Sahara desert in order that an effective contribution could be made to the economic emancipation of the region by means of co-operation and mutual assistance, and to provide land- locked nations such as Niger and Chad with an outlet to the sea. King Hassan said that the Western Sahara problem in itself was "artificial" and that the Sahrawi people "do not exist as ethnically distinct from the people of other zones of the Saharav.-(Guardian - Le Monde - International Herald Tribune - Neue Ziircher Zeitung - BBC Summary of World Broadcasts - West Africa - Financial Times) (Prev. rep. Western Sahara 29565 A; Mauritanian Government Changes

29925 A)

A . EFTA - SPAIN - Signature of Multilateral Free Trade Agreement

The multilateral free trade agreement between the seven member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Spain, which had been initialled in December 1978 [see 29436 B], was signed in Madrid on June 26 after certain out- standing clauses had been finalized in Geneva on June 12. The agreement was to come into force as soon as all eight countries had ratified it, subject to a provision that if ratification pro- cedures were not completed by Jan. 1, 1980, those states which had ratified by that date would have the option of implement- ing the agreement between themselves.-(EFTA Bulletin - La Vanguardia, Barcelona - Financial Times) (Prev. rep.

29436 B)