Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XXIV, North Africa

409. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Hill) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Clark)¹

Washington, July 20, 1983

SUBJECT

• Letter to The President from Polisario Chief Mohamed Abdelaziz

We transmit for the record a letter addressed to President Reagan from the “President” of the “Saharan Democratic Arab Republic,” the Polisario “government.” It was delivered to our Embassy in Algiers June 27. We understand that the Polisario addressed similar messages to all the permanent UNSC members.

The letter is artfully crafted to assert for the SDAR the status of a fully accepted entity. In fact, the administrative action taken by the Organization of African Unity Secretariat to seat the SDAR as a member state precipitated an 18 month crisis during which the OAU was unable to convene a summit. The crisis was resolved only last month when the Polisario’s representatives agreed not to attend the Addis summit.²

Both the fact of the letter and its text attempt to prejudge the outcome of the referendum on the future of the Western Sahara that Moroccan King Hassan has accepted and we support. The letter distorts the force of the Western Sahara resolution adopted at the Addis Summit,³ blurring the resolution’s “urging” that the parties to the conflict (Morocco and the Polisario, not the SDAR) enter into direct negotiations on a ceasefire with its “direction” that the Implementation Committee resume its charge to organize the referendum that is to follow the ceasefire.

Any response or acknowledgment by the USG of this letter would tend to grant a degree of acceptance or recognition of the status which the author claims for himself and his “government” that would conflict with our longstanding support for the OAU’s ceasefire/referendum approach to resolving this conflict. Consequently, we recommend there be no reply.

Charles Hill⁴
Executive Secretary

Attachment

Letter From President of the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic Abdelaziz to President Reagan⁵

Hauza, June 25, 1983

Excellency:

The war between the Saharan people and the Kingdom of Morocco, sparked by Moroccan military aggression against our country, is one of the most serious crises that the world is facing at this time.

At its 19th summit conference held June 6–11 at Addis Ababa, the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U.), to which the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco belong, made an important decision to end this conflict.

You are surely aware, Excellency, that Africa’s major concern is to spare our continent and the world the dangers that this war represents in terms of undermining peace, and to ensure respect for the sacred principle of the people’s right to self-determination and independence, a right elevated by the U.N. and O.A.U. Charters to the level of a standard of jus cojens.

Resolution 104 (AHG XIX) takes a position both on the grounds for the conflict and the appropriate manner of settling it. The participation of the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco in the decision-making process made it possible for this resolution to be unanimously adopted.

The emphasis placed on a referendum by the Saharan people for free, general, and just self-determination, on terms and conditions that must be negotiated directly by the two parties to the conflict, the Polisario Front and Morocco, clearly indicates the O.A.U.’s desire to contain this conflict within its natural, just, and true dimensions as a case of decolonization of an African country that is the victim of an expansionist neighboring State.

The requirement by the 19th O.A.U. summit conference that the two parties to the conflict enter into direct negotiations before December 1983 with a view to a cease-fire and to establish the terms and conditions of the referendum for self-determination and independence indicates the path chosen by the O.A.U. to settle the conflict.

The firmness and clarity of Resolution 104 (AHG XIX) express the unanimous desire of the African States to eliminate the difficulties that have been deliberately created by Morocco to impede O.A.U. action to ensure, in conformity with the sacred principles of its Charter, a political, peaceful, and permanent settlement to the war between the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco while respecting the people’s right to self-determination and independence.

The motives that induced me to send you this letter are based first on the fact that the United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council, has a great international responsibility to promote peace, stability, and respect for the sacred principles of the U.N. and O.A.U. Charters, and also on my conviction that you could intervene personally in this situation to ensure the implementation of Resolution 104 in conformity with the will of Africa.

Insofar as my government is concerned, I can assure you of its complete willingness to proceed immediately with the implementation of this resolution, for any delay or evasiveness in this respect would seriously complicate and impede the African peace plan.

In addition, we avail ourselves of this opportunity to warn Morocco against any attitude that might hinder or impede the implementation of this plan in any way.

Accept, Excellency, the assurances of our high consideration.

Hauza (Territories liberated by the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic),

June 25, 1983

Mohamed Abdelaziz⁶
President of the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic
Secretary General of the Polisario Front
[Presidential stamp]

1. Source: Reagan Library, Executive Secretariat, NSC Country File, Africa, Africa General (07/01/1983–07/30/1983). Confidential. A stamped notation indicates the memorandum was received in the White House Situation Room at 11:51 p.m. on July 20.
2. See footnote 2, Document 407.
3. See footnote 3, Document 408.
4. Covey signed his name above Hill’s typed signature.
5. No classification marking. Printed from an unofficial translation prepared in the Division of Language Services. All brackets are in the original.
6. Printed from a copy that indicates Abdelaziz signed the original.