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Among the many often-overlooked of the numerous sordid legacies of the late Henry Kissinger was his vital position in enabling Morocco’s invasion and occupation of the nation of Western Sahara. The previous Spanish colony stays largely underneath a brutal Moroccan occupation to this present day.
Morocco’s occupation, like Israel’s, has been backed by america by navy assist and safety from worldwide censure within the U.N. Safety Council. In contrast to the Israeli occupation of the West Financial institution, nevertheless—the place the Biden Administration has not less than given lip service to the concept of a two-state resolution—america is the solely different nation apart from Israel that formally acknowledges Morocco’s unlawful annexation. This stance defies a collection of United Nations Safety Council resolutions and a landmark World Courtroom determination calling for self-determination.
Western Sahara is a sparsely-populated territory concerning the dimension of Colorado, situated on the Atlantic coast in northwestern Africa, simply south of Morocco. Historically inhabited by nomadic Arab tribes, collectively often known as Sahrawis and well-known for his or her lengthy historical past of resistance to outdoors domination, the territory was occupied by Spain from the late 1800s by the mid-Seventies, properly over a decade after most African international locations had achieved their freedom from European colonialism.
The nationalist Polisario Entrance launched an armed independence battle towards Spain in 1973, and Madrid ultimately promised the folks of what was then nonetheless often known as the Spanish Sahara a referendum on the destiny of the territory by the top of 1975. Expansionist claims by Morocco and Mauritania have been introduced earlier than the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ). The courtroom dominated in October 1975 that—regardless of pledges of fealty to the Moroccan sultan again within the nineteenth century by some tribal leaders bordering the territory and the shut ethnic ties between some Sahrawi and Mauritanian tribes—the proper of self-determination was paramount.
A particular visiting mission from the United Nations went to the territory that very same month and concluded that the overwhelming majority of Sahrawis supported independence, not integration with Morocco or Mauritania.
Regardless of the ICJ ruling that the folks of Western Sahara had the proper to self-determination, Kissinger advised President Gerald Ford and Nationwide Safety Advisor Brent Scowcroft, in an obvious effort to get the Administration to oppose self-determination, that “the [World Court] gave an opinion which mentioned sovereignty had been determined between Morocco and Mauritania. That principally is what [Moroccan King] Hassan wished.”
In the meantime, the Moroccan monarchy, with none obvious objections from Washington, began mobilizing its forces for a attainable invasion of the Spanish Sahara.
Kissinger was clearly alarmed on the prospects of an impartial Western Sahara state, telling the Spaniards that—regardless of the Polisario’s lack of Soviet help, non aligned overseas coverage, and a rejection of Marxist-Leninism—“america is not going to enable one other Angola on the East flank of the Atlantic Ocean.”
One other concern, coming quickly after Portugal’s sharp flip to the left following the overthrow of the Caetano dictatorship the 12 months earlier than, was that the Spaniards would wish to have the ability to think about attainable home turmoil following the passing of Generalissimo Francisco Franco—the longtime fascist dictator then on his loss of life mattress—fairly than on a battle in North Africa.
Through the rising disaster that October, Kissinger dispatched the deputy CIA director, Common Vernon Walters, as his particular envoy to Madrid. Walters had been a good friend of King Hassan for the reason that common’s days as an intelligence agent in Vichy-controlled North Africa. Kissinger had Walters attempt to persuade the Spanish authorities of the necessity to acquiesce to Moroccan territorial calls for. Walters additionally tried to tie Spain’s cooperation on Western Sahara with the renewal of the lease for U.S. air and naval bases on beneficiant phrases and with Spain’s request for $1.5 billion in new U.S. weapons.
Inside two months of the signing of the Madrid accords, a five-year U.S.-Spanish treaty was signed that included agreements favorable to Spain. Walters, who has spoken fairly candidly about different secret missions during which he was concerned, comparable to arranging Kissinger’s secret journeys to China in 1971 and establishing the Paris peace talks between america and North Vietnam in 1968, has stored silent on his position right here, saying, “It might appear to be the King of Morocco and the King of Spain are pawns of the U.S., and that wouldn’t be in anyone’s curiosity.”
On November 6, utilizing a civilian march of 350,000 Moroccans which crossed a number of hundred meters into the Spanish territory as a feint, Moroccan armed forces poured into Western Sahara, driving most Polisario fighters and practically one-third of the nation’s inhabitants into Algeria, the place they’ve lived in Polisario-run refugee camps ever since. A lot of the remaining inhabitants has lived underneath repressive Moroccan management. Freedom Home has rated the occupied Western Sahara as having the least political freedom of any nation on the planet, excluding solely Syria.
“Secretary Kissinger, deliberately or in any other case, might have given Hassan what the latter took to be a inexperienced mild throughout a dialog in the summertime of 1975.”—Ambassador Richard Parker
There may be some proof to counsel that Kissinger’s help for a Moroccan takeover of the phosphate-rich Spanish Sahara might have preceded the disaster that fall by a number of months. Richard Parker, who served as U.S. ambassador in neighboring Algeria on the time of the Moroccan invasion, acknowledges that “Secretary Kissinger, deliberately or in any other case, might have given Hassan what the latter took to be a inexperienced mild throughout a dialog in the summertime of 1975.”
Subsequently, underneath each Republican and Democratic Administrations, america has continued to supply arms and different help to the Moroccan occupation within the face of each armed and nonviolent resistance by the Sahrawis. As with Israel and Palestine, america claimed it supported a “peace course of” whereas successfully blocking the occupying energy from feeling any penalties for its refusal to compromise.
In his ultimate weeks in workplace, former President Donald Trump formally acknowledged Moroccan sovereignty over the occupied nation, together with the roughly 25 % of Western Sahara nonetheless underneath the management of the Polisario. Whereas even Kissinger acknowledged the damaging precedent of formally recognizing a rustic increasing its territory by power, the Biden Administration has rejected each worldwide and bipartisan home calls to reverse Trump’s determination.
Regardless of claiming to proceed to help the moribund United Nations-sponsored peace course of, america is successfully agreeing with the Moroccan monarchy that independence shouldn’t be an possibility for the Sahrawis, who embrace a definite historical past, dialect, and tradition.
The Moroccan regime—emboldened by U.S. recognition—insists that independence is totally off the desk and is at most prepared to supply a restricted diploma of “autonomy” underneath Moroccan rule.
The Moroccan regime—emboldened by U.S. recognition—insists that independence is totally off the desk.
The normal excuses the U.S. authorities has used for its refusal to demand an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories or acknowledge the State of Palestine (as 138 different international locations have performed) has been as a result of there isn’t any unified Palestinian management, that a number of the Palestinian factions refuse to acknowledge Israel’s proper to exist, that a few of these teams have engaged in terrorism, and that none of them are democratic.
However within the case of Western Sahara, there’s unified management underneath the Polisario. They’ve by no means questioned Morocco’s proper to exist, by no means engaged in terrorism, and are comparatively democratic—permitting for open dissent and without cost and honest elections in areas underneath their management. This not solely raises questions as to why america stays against the Western Saharans’ proper to self-determination, however whether or not they would proceed to oppose an finish of the Israeli occupation even when the Palestinians did unify underneath a reasonable, nonviolent, democratic management that acknowledged Israel.
The rhetoric of the Biden Administration concerning the significance of democracy, human rights, and a rules-based worldwide order is a welcome distinction from the brutal realpolitik of the Kissinger period. In follow, nevertheless, Biden seems fairly prepared to proceed supporting considered one of Kissinger’s most shameful legacies.
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