231. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance to President Carter1
[Omitted here is material unrelated to the Western Sahara.]
2. The Sahara Dispute—Moroccan and Algerian emissaries have been in Paris this week, where each has been received separately by President Giscard d’Estaing. The French are being very silent about the content of these exchanges, but there is little doubt they are trying to facilitate a negotiated settlement to the Sahara conflict.2 Prospects for a diplomatic solution improved substantially following the Mauritanian coup last month, when the country’s new rulers made clear their intention to get out of the war, which is ravaging Mauritania’s feeble economy. The Polisario’s proclamation of a ceasefire in Mauritania further enhanced peace prospects.
The keystone of a negotiated settlement appears to be the establishment of a Saharan political entity in that portion of the Sahara now [Page 565] occupied by Mauritania. The Nouakchott regime is prepared to surrender this territory, and the Algerians have dropped their demand that the Polisario be given the opportunity to establish a Saharan state which would encompass all of the former Spanish Sahara. What is unclear is the acceptability of such an arrangement to the Moroccans, who have troops in the area, and whether or not the Polisario would be satisfied with only this fragment of the territory it claims.
[Omitted here is material unrelated to the Western Sahara.]
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 20, Evening Reports (State): 8/78. Secret. Carter initialed the memorandum.↩
- In telegram 24186 from Paris, August 2, the Embassy summarized the French effort: “The French are moving into a more active diplomatic role in an effort to settle the Western Sahara issue. They appear to see themselves less as mediators than as message-carriers and encouragers.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780317–1150)↩