ALGERIA CONCERNED BY U.S. ARMS DEAL WITH MOROCCO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302550003-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: February 13, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0302550003-5
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By Henry Muller
Ti me-Life.liews Service
ALGIERS, Algeria - President
Carter's proposal to sell additional Young was in Algeria on what he Though the United States has arms to Morocco is causing consider- described as a private business trip. never recognized Morocco's claim to
able concern in Algeria, a country Official U.S: policcy was outlined sovereignty over the 103,000-square-
whose relations with the United ' last month by Harold Saunders. mile Western Sahara, State Depart-
'States have been improving quietly. undersecretary of state for Middle went officials say that U.S. support is
The S235 million worth of recon- East and South Asian affairs. Saun- needed to guarantee the stability of
r.aissance planes, helicopters and., ders told Congress that. U.S. support a longtime ally. A CIA study pub-
fighter bombers are to be used by- would "enable King Hassan to ne- lished last year i :a Hassan
Morocco against'the Polisario Front, gotiate from a position of strength. . risxed to owing the Shah o ra n
an Algerian-backed group fighting "We don't understand the U.S. rea- in o exile it his domestic i;ositfon
for independence of the Western soning," a top official of the deteriorated urther.
Sahara, a former Spanish colony Algerian Foreign Ministry said. "If it Algerians argue that the costly
annexed by Morocco. were a question of an internal rebel- Sahara war is the major destabiliz-
Algerian officials do not accept lion within Morocco, the help of an ing factor in Morocco, and that the
the U.S. explanation, delivered in. ally would be understandable. But it surest way to ensure Hassan:s politi-
person by national security adviser is a matter of decolonization, and cal survival is to persuade him to
Zbigniew Brzezinski last November. your support of the Moroccans abandon the conflict. "Unjust
He said the sale will improve against the Polisario runs counter to colonial wars have always destahi-
chances of getting Morocco's King the most basic principles the that lized governments," an official ex-
Hassan Ii to negotiate a settlement to United States believes in, namely the plained. "Look at France's Fourth
the four-year-old Sahara conflict. right of people to self-determina- Republic (which fought to retain
Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew tion." Algeria) or Portugal (whose leaders
Young said last weekend in Algeria The Algerians, moreover, do not tried unsuccessfully to retain colo-
that he would try to influence the believe that Hassan genuinely wants nies in Africa)."
American decision 'on arms. sales to. to negotiate a settlement. Their The war is costing Morocco more
Morocco. ' .. doubts, they say, were confirmed by than Si million a day. -
"When the American people know the Moroccan king's refusal to at- Algerian diplomats argue that.
your history they will be your tend a recent meeting on the Saha- .-contrary to what is often said, the;"
. have no interest in seeing a weaken.
ran conflict called by a special com-
mittee of the Organization for
ing of Hassan's regime. The king,
they explain, is the country's only
unifying force, and his overthrow
would most likely create a situation- I
.similar to that in Iran,.where rival
groups have been vying for power
and influence at the expense?of're-
gional stability.
Though Algeria has developed an
Eastern European-style socialist
economy and relied on the Soviet
Union for most of its-weaponry, the.
country jealously guards its status as
a nonaligned nation. - ~ . - - -
. Most of Algeria's economic ties are
with the West. The United States,
which buys 57 percent of the coun-
try's crude oil and more than half of
its natural gas, is now Algeria's main
trading partner, ahead of France.
"We don't want bad relations with
the United States," an official said.
"On the 'contrary. But further
Moroccan setbacks in the Sahara are
inevitable, and we don't want to see-
?-a situation, in which the United .
States is forced into an escalation. It
would not be in North Africa's inter-
est, nor would it be in the United
States....
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP9O-00552ROO0302550003-5
WASHDIGTON STAR (GRl;'FN LThE)
13 FEBRUARY _ 1980
if _Zh
F [end by
friend," Young said at Tfndouf, a
major staging area for Polisario
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