Office of the Historian

52. Telegram From the Embassy in Mauritania to the Department of State1

02093.
Nouakchott, April 14, 1985, 1502Z

SUBJECT

  • Mauritanian-Moroccan Ambassadorial Exchange.

Ref:

  • A) FBIS London UK (131226Z Apr 85)2
  • B) Nouakchott 00414.3
1.
C—Entire text.
2.
April 13 announcement of an exchange of Ambassadors between Mauritania and Morocco (ref A) represents the culmination of an important phase in the reorientation of GIRM foreign policy launched in the wake of palace coup four months ago. At Mauritania’s instigation Morocco and Mauritania recalled their Ambassadors in April, 1981, after the Haidalla regime saw Moroccan complicity in the aborted attempt to seize power (during which Taya narrowly escaped plotters’ attempt to assassinate him). The announcement indicates that the alleged disappearance of extensive Moroccan assets consigned to escrow has either been resolved, or was not a problem in the first place. The resumption of ties will be popular in many quarters here. The capacious Moroccan [Page 112] mosque, vacant these past four years, will now open. Many Mauritanians with close family ties to Morocco will welcome the decision. An extensive commerce diverted since 1981 to the Canaries will likely resume.
3.
The news also constitutes tangible evidence—and there is little enough of it—that the Taya regime is determined to implement, albeit carefully, its objective of a truly neutral relationship to the Western Sahara conflict (ref B). The high-profile Algerian presence which prevailed during much of the four year hiatus in Moroccan-Mauritanian ambassadorial level relations has already diminished, and may diminish a bit more. Nonetheless, as the concurrent visit of Minister of Interior Djibril O. Abdallahi (the former Cimper)4 to Algiers suggests, Taya will make every effort to insure that the pendulum does not swing too far the other way.
Peck
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, Electronic Telegrams, D850256–0626. Confidential; Priority. Sent for information to Algiers, Dakar, Rabat, and USCINCEUR.↩
  2. Not found.↩
  3. In telegram 414 from Nouakchott, January 23, the Embassy reported that in the wake of the December coup which removed Haidalla (see Documents 44–46) “the most important new initiatives have related themselves to international relations. The new government has pledged a return to impartial neutrality; the effect will be to weaken ties to the Polisario, examine ways to resume a dialogue with Rabat and if possible insulate Mauritania more effectively from the ramifications of any Algerian-Moroccan conflict.” (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, Electronic Telegrams, D850050–0142)↩
  4. Djibril Ould Abdallahi, also known as Gabriel Cimper.↩