Office of the Historian

101. Telegram 258216 From the Department of State to the Embassy in Morocco1

Washington, October 31, 1975, 0143Z.

258216. Subject: Message for King Hassan—Spanish Sahara. For the Chargé from the Secretary.

1. Please convey following message from me for King Hassan.

2. Begin text:

Your Majesty:

I very much appreciate your courtesy in receiving Assistant Secretary Atherton last week in Marrakesh. I am grateful for your counsel and support with respect to the Middle East negotiations. I also welcomed your views on the Sahara situation, which have given us a full appreciation of Your Majesty’s policy and objectives in this respect. We want to be helpful in any way we can, within the framework of the United Nations, to achieve a stable and amicable negotiated outcome, and it is in this spirit that I am writing you today.

I want to report to Your Majesty that I have received a message from President Boumediene expressing deep concern over the potential consequences if the proposed march to the Sahara goes forward.

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I also want to inform you that we have now discussed with Secretary General Waldheim the results of his recent mission, and he has described to us his efforts to find a formula which could provide the basis for a reasonable solution in the Spanish Sahara. After considering the formula which the Secretary General is proposing, it occurs to us that Your Majesty might find such a process acceptable. I would appreciate very much knowing what Your Majesty’s views are and how Your Majesty intends to proceed in relation to this formula. Meanwhile, now that matters seem to be moving in the direction Morocco has been seeking, I am sure Your Majesty will agree that it is important for all of us to exercise continued patience and give the Secretary General all possible support in these efforts. We believe they are promising and hope that this matter can be pursued in an atmosphere of calm in your area which will be conducive to a peaceful resolution.

I hope Your Majesty will agree that action such as the proposed march to the Sahara, which would inevitably increase tension despite your best efforts to the contrary, might prove unsettling to the hopeful process now underway.

Warm Regards,

Henry A. Kissinger

End text.

Ingersoll

  1. Summary: The Embassy was instructed to deliver a message from Kissinger to King Hassan concerning the proposed Green March into the Sahara. Kissinger asked for the King’s views on Waldheim’s proposal for settlement of the Spanish Sahara issue and emphasized that the proposed march would increase tensions in the region.

    Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Presidential Country Files for Africa, Box 4, Morocco, State Department Telegrams, From SecState—Nodis. Secret; Immediate; Nodis. Drafted by Atherton; cleared by Borg; and approved by Kissinger by telecon—Adams.

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