Rice Presses for Cooperation On Terror Efforts North Africa
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RABAT, Morocco — Secretary of State Rice yesterday pressed American allies in North Africa for greater cooperation in the face of terrorism and efforts at political change as she ended a visit to the region.
The top American diplomat said she discussed “the process of reform” in meetings with leaders in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Those talks, she said at a news conference with her Moroccan counterpart, helped “look at ways in which we might help the countries of this important region to have a more unified approach to the challenges that face them.”
Morocco’s foreign minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri, said the meetings also addressed “relations with our brother country Algeria,” and what can be done “against common threats and international terrorism.”
A main point of contention between Morocco and Algeria is Western Sahara, a mineral-rich region that Morocco annexed in 1975. Ms. Rice said America backed a new round of United Nations talks to solve the protracted problem through a plan for autonomy.
But the pro-independence Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, wants a referendum to rule on the Western Sahara’s right to self-determination.
“We believe it is extremely important” for Algeria and Morocco to resolve the question, Ms. Rice said, because it is hampering their cooperation on other issues such as security and counterterrorism.
A tourism haven and a relatively liberal Muslim kingdom, Morocco is the North African nation with the closest business and diplomatic ties to America, from which it recently bought a large shipment of F-16 fighter jets.
The country is accused by several former American detainees of having tortured suspected terrorists on behalf of the CIA.
Rights groups have also often criticized other North African countries for police brutality or undue judicial process, while casting doubts about widespread electoral fraud.
Ms. Rice’s visit to North Africa is her first as secretary of state in this region of increasing strategic importance. The trip, with earlier stops in Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, comes as the threat posed by militants in North Africa has become “even more salient in the recent months,” she said Saturday.
