ID:70010
    Date:2006-07-01 11:15:00
    Origin:06ALGIERS1219
    Source:Embassy Algiers
    Classification:CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
    Dunno:
    Destination:VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAS #1219/01 1821115
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 011115Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1480
INFO RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1316
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 8466
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1868
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 1356
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 6204
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA  PRIORITY 0358
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0365

    
C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001219 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2016 
TAGS: PREL, PBTS, WI, MO, AG 
SUBJECT: BOUTEFLIKA ON WESTERN SAHARA, RELATIONS WITH 
MOROCCO 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard W. Erdman: Reasons 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
1.  (C) Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and 
Counterterrorism Frances Fragos Townsend met with President 
Bouteflika for three and a half hours June 18.  NSC Senior 
Director for Combating Terrorism Michele Malvesti and DCM 
accompanied Townsend.  Bouteflika's Counterterrorism Adviser 
Rezzag Bara and a notetaker were also present.  This cable 
reports their discussion of the Western Sahara and relations 
with Morocco. 
 
2.  (C/NF) Well into the meeting, Bouteflika raised Western 
Sahara, noting that U.S. visitors always wanted to discuss it 
with him.  Townsend noted that President Bush had asked both 
Bouteflika and Moroccan King Mohamed VI to find a way to 
resolve their differences.  Townsend said the President 
appreciated Bouteflika's role in last summer's release by the 
Polisario of the remaining 404 Moroccan prisoners, noting 
that "this would not have happened without your courage." 
She asked Bouteflika about his view on fully resolving this 
issue.  . 
 
3.  (C/NF) Bouteflika responded that as the world's biggest 
power, the U.S. should respect the decisions of the UN on the 
Western Sahara.  He recalled that in his first meeting with 
President Bush in 2001, the President had asked him to work 
faithfully with James Baker and he had done so.  Bouteflika 
noted that he had supported the Baker Plan, even though he 
would not have done so without President Bush's request. 
Now, he said, Algeria was "stuck in the middle" with Morocco; 
"we reject anything they accept and vice versa."  Bouteflika 
commented that despite this stalemate, he had made two 
important decisions:  the Western Sahara would never be a 
casus belli for Algeria, and he had made clear to the 
Moroccans that Algeria had no claims on the Western Sahara's 
territory or resources. 
 
4.  (C/NF) Bouteflika asserted that there was no bilateral 
problem between Algeria and Morocco.  The Moroccans, he went 
on, claimed the Western Sahara was an issue between Morocco 
and Algeria.  "I would solve it if I could," he stated, "but 
I cannot speak for the Sahrawis."  Morocco and the Polisario 
must find a solution, and they can do so with American help. 
Algeria will support any agreement reached by Morocco and the 
Polisario.  But, Bouteflika cautioned, a solution cannot be 
imposed on the Sahrawis.  In that case, Algeria will defend 
to the end the Sahrawis' right to self-determination. 
 
5.  (C/NF) Bouteflika complained that Algeria was in a 
situation whereby any gesture toward Morocco would be held up 
by the Moroccan side as the beginning of a process of working 
out a settlement bilaterally with Algeria.  "So I do not want 
to shake the King's hand."  However, Bouteflika said he had 
recently met the King's brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, in 
Seville, where they were both guests of King Juan Carlos. 
Bouteflika observed that he had found he could have a broad 
discussion with Moulay Rachid.  "We joked and chatted 
comfortably," Bouteflika commented, "but I cannot do this 
with the King, we do not have the same sense of humor!"  He 
added that he could also joke with the King's late father, 
King Hassan II.  King Mohamed, however, "is not open, and he 
lacks experience."  In a rare moment of self-criticism, 
Bouteflika said he had found his own weak point:  he believed 
others should resolve problems through dialogue, but he did 
not believe in dialogue for himself with Mohamed VI. 
 
6.  (C/NF) Townsend said the Western Sahara continued to be a 
matter of great interest to President Bush.  She added that 
the lack of a settlement was impeding regional cooperation on 
counterterrorism and preventing the Maghreb from achieving 
the level of economic relations that it should enjoy. 
Bouteflika suggested that James Baker would be a good source 
of advice to the President, he was a man of "exceptional 
qualities."  It was a "shame Baker quit," Bouteflika 
commented.  He then wondered whether the President might 
convince Baker to resume his previous role.  Bouteflika 
concluded that offering concessions to Morocco would be 
tantamount to "giving a bonus to the most undisciplined 
student in the class."  The U.S. "should not award Morocco's 
bad behavior." 
 
7.  (U) Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and 
 
Counterterrorism Frances Fragos Townsend has cleared this 
message. 
ERDMAN