Morocco: Stumbling Diplomatic Performance

: HASSAN MASIKY; 02/15/13

Washington / Morocco News Board--- Morocco’s dismal diplomatic performance on the international scene seems to have changed little during Saad Eddine Othmani tenure as Morocco's first political appointee Foreign Minister. Moroccan diplomats, lacking a grand plan to promote their country’s diplomatic agendas, keep stumbling on the face of a more “ideologically”driven Algerian schema.

The European Parliament (EU) latest resolution denouncing Morocco’s human rights “abuses” in the Moroccan Sahara and the Socialist International Council communiqué critical of Rabat are two too many setbacks added to an ever-expanding list of diplomatic and political disappointments.

Although the Socialist, Green and Communist Members of the European Parliament who drafted and passed a baised anti-Morocco resolution were ideologically motived, Moroccan diplomats inability to muster their allies to counter draft a bill exposing Algeria’s double game is ominous of on going serious dificenccies at Morocco’s Foreign service.

The EU criticism comes on the heels of confirmation by Malian officials of links between terrorist groups in the Sahel and Western Sahara separatists Polisario fighters. Yet, Moroccan diplomats in Strasbourg and Moroccan Socialists in Portugal could not make a case for an open and unrestricted access to Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf, Algeria. The EU “plea” to the Moroccan authorities for “the protection of fundamental rights of the people of Western Sahara, including freedom of association, freedom of expression and the right to protest” is reprehensible given the fact that thousands of Sahrawis are living under Algerian rule in deplorable, inhuman, and merciless conditions in the unforgiving desert. Moroccan Sahrawi initiatives to advocate for the rights of their brothers in Tindouf have been inadequate.

Rabat’s inability to mount a sustained and relentless diplomatic campaign to highlight the plight of thousands of Sahrawi civilians forcibly warehoused by the Algerian military in the Algerian deserts and to denounce Algeria’s continues refusal to let independent human rights organizations access refugees on its soil is indefensible and unacceptable. The Moroccan public has the right to assess and critic the diplomatic performance gap of Moroccan embassies in Brussels, Paris, Madrid and Rome.

The Moroccan diplomacy has been ineffective in utilizing the Malian crisis to underline Algeria and the African Union’s double standards on applying the concept of “self-determination”. As the EU appealed for "a just and lasting settlement of the conflict based on the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations,” Moroccan diplomats in Strasbourg should have been busy making a case for Malian and Algerian Touareg’ right to self-rule.

The most “embarrassing” aspect of the EU’s adopted text is not the pro-Polisario language but rather the absence of wording on the deplorable conditions in the Western sahara Separatists Tindouf camps and Algeria’s obstructive and unconstructive role hampering the United Nations effort to resolve the Western Sahara conflict.

The Moroccan public finds the absence of an aggressive and coherent diplomatic campaign to denounce the conditions in the Sahrawi refugee camps inexcusable. Past Moroccan campaigns to denounce the Algerian backed Polisario guerilla’s oppressive policies were ineffective, incompetent and unimpressive.

The lack of credible and competent Moroccan diplomatic initiatives is discomforting given the pool of gifted Moroccan talents around the world. Morocco’s weak and spotty performance as a member of the United Nations Security Council and Rabat hesitant role in the Mali crisis are two missed occasions for our timid diplomats. Even though criticism of the Moroccan diplomacy is common and “cyclic” in the Moroccan press, failures such as the EU resolution on the Western Sahara should not go unnoticed at a time when the amount of dollars and infrastructure the Moroccan government has put forward to defend its territorial integrity are considerable and mounting.

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Comments (25)

+2 #1 RE: Morocco: Stumbling Diplomatic Performance — Morcelli 2013-02-15 19:58

Mr Hassan,
You touched on the obvious, incompetence, lack of self confidence on the part of our diplomats, their weakness,and their spotty performance. unfortunately, you omitted the elephant in the room. Moroccan diplomats work with their hands tight, they cannot just do what they perceive the right course of action, they have to consult with the shadow government of his majesty; El himma,Fassi fihri, and many others, these servants have to consult with the king. I am not even sure if the poor othmani is in the picture. Let's face it, the guy is an imam slash psychologist, what does he have to do with foreign affairs?

The buck stops with the king, He owns the Sahara dossier and he's to blame. When the US ambassador died in Libya, Hillary took the blame for it, not her staff.

If we keep giving the king breaks, the problem will never get solved, it's human nature, we become productive when we are under pressure, when the folks of the F20 movement took to the street, the king acted and reacted.

We can't keep blaming Othmani and Benkirane when we know that those 2 poor souls have zero power. Benkirane himself made it clear when he said that I work for the king and he's my boss.

You said " Moroccan diplomats in Strasbourg should have been busy making a case for Malian and Algerian Touareg’ right to self-rule". Very bad idea.

You don't solve your problem with telling others " Well I am not the only one who is messing up here, look Algeria is just as bad". This tit for tat diplomacy is not what we should be doing. It simply does not work, we tried it several times and the world community are not going to forfeit their business deals with Algeria to please Morocco. Even our good friend France will not go for such a thing.

We need solid diplomats, intelligent and educated people who earn their post not handed to them, the king needs to let go his tight grip on who goes where. We especially need people who put Morocco first not their family and friends first. The king should continue working on the Human development in Morocco and keep bringing those Middle east investment to Morocco and let others deal with the Algerians.

If it was up to our diplomats, they will never walk out of Ben Bella's funerals to please the king. This is backward ancient thinking. A real diplomat is the one that when face with not so pleasant any situation, s/he manages to come out a winner and classy. Obama was faced with Qaddafi who caused the death of many American and he shook his hands.

I do agree that we do have a pool of gifted Moroccan talents around the world and that's disheartening because they are never on M6's list. He hired only those who are presented to him by his most hated advisers.

Here is what we have now.
Algerian money against Moroccan charm initiative. Morocco's diplomacy is to support anything and everything France the US come up with. As if we are Qatar.

Money always win and we need to somehow make Morocco's submission to France, the US, Russia , China, and Britain worth something and that's where we are failing and that has to change. France will not always be here to come to our rescue.