The information contained in this report is from a generally reliable source but has not been corroborated by third party sources.
(i)According to a Moroccan senior civil servant who attended sessions of the Morocco-Tunisia High Commission, chaired by the two countries’ Islamist prime ministers in Rabat on June 15, the Sahara question was raised in these meetings. Morocco’s PJD, which until it came to power had little to say about the Sahara issue, now wants to place it at the heart of the government’s North Africa policy. Moroccan Prime Minister Benkirane told his Tunisian counterpart that the coming Maghreb countries summit, slotted for October 10, 2012 in Tunisia, will not have the desired outcome unless the countries of North Africa succeed in settling the Sahara conflict via the only viable option — that is autonomy for the territory under Moroccan sovereignty. Noting that the UN has not succeeded in imposing a solution, Benkirane argued that the Maghreb countries have to find a way to end the Sahara conflict. The Moroccans were surprised to find that Tunisia’s prime minister, Hamadi Jebali, appeared convinced by their approach, which would represent a major evolution in Tunisia’s traditional position of neutrality on the Sahara issue.
(ii)According to a journalist at the UN headquarters, where the Special Committee of the 24 on Decolonisation is currently looking into the Sahara conflict, Morocco has officially asked the UN Secretary General for a “assessment pause” in negotiations with Polisario. Talks will go nowhere as long as Polisario persists in rejecting everything and proposing nothing, argue the Moroccans. Moroccan diplomats hinted that without such an assessment, it would be “pointless” for their country to participate in a new negotiations session.
(iii)A member of Polisario’s national secretariat tells us that during their recent visit to Tindouf, a delegation of African foreign ministers (including those of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia) asked Polisario leaders, including Mohamed Abdelaziz, to keep a lower profile than usual at the African summit of July 9, 2012. According to the source, who expressed some concern at this development, members of the Polisario national secretariat interpreted this as a first step towards a reconsideration of Sadr’s position in the African Union.
(iv)According to a member of a Sahrawi NGO in Algiers who was present at the Sahrawi Martyrs Day commemorations in Tindouf, Sadr defence minister Mohamed Lamine Bouhali is working with his close aides on a reorganisation of Sahrawi armed forces and security services, aimed at shifting their focus from a doctrine of war and military operations against Moroccan positions to a strategy of “destabilisation” on the whole of Moroccan territory. The reason for such a shift is clear: Polisario no longer has the means to purchase weapons of war and Algeria is not disposed to assist it in procurement. Algeria no longer supplies Polisario with heavy war weaponry, providing only side arms used by security services and for policing purposes.
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