Cablegate: Eu Parliamentarians Visit to the Western Sahara

VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #1862 2782043
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 052043Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4832
INFO RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3107
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT PRIORITY 3321
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 4396
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 4164
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 5585
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 2209
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

UNCLAS RABAT 001862

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL, EUR/ERA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PBTS PHUM MO EU
SUBJECT: EU PARLIAMENTARIANS VISIT TO THE WESTERN SAHARA
"POSTPONED"

1. This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.

2. (SBU) On September 29, a clutch of European diplomats
informed Poloffs that two European Union (EU)
parliamentarians (MEP's) planned to visit the Western Sahara
the following week, having previously visited Tindouf in
Algeria, site of Polisario camps and Administration. They
acknowledged that the MEP's were known to favor Polisario
positions on the Western Sahara issue. The press reported on
October 5, however, that five EU parliamentarians had been
denied permission to visit the territory. Abdelwahad Radi,
the Moroccan speaker of the parliament, sent a letter to the
EU speaker saying that the trip, planned for earlier in the
week, had to be postponed because the visit was not
practical. A new wali (governor) had only recently been
appointed and the parliamentarians could not be properly
received. The five EU parliamentarians, all of whom are
Spanish, three of them late additions, were also identified
in the press as being pro-Polisario. No new date was
announced. (Comment: The governor was indeed only getting to
the territory at the time of the prospective visit, but it
appears the Moroccans also put off the visit for political
reasons. End Comment.)
******************************************
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat
******************************************

RILEY

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