URU, Alm.del - 2010-11 (1. samling) - Bilag 80: Brev af 19. januar 2011 fra Afrika Kontakt til den danske ambassadør i Marokko

Here is a letter sent by the Danish NGO Afrika Kontakt to the Danish Ambassador to Morocco. (19.01.2011)Fra:Reply-To:[email protected]Emne: Questions concerning the embassies praise of development in Western Sahara and itscooperation with Moroccan parties 19.01.2011Til:[email protected]Dear Ambassador,According to news reports yesterday, Councillor of Denmark's Embassyto Rabat, Michael Bennett Jensen Monday praised the developmentprojects carried out in Laayoune in the occupied territories ofWestern Sahara. Bennett also met with representatives of theAuthenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), after which he said he was"impressed with the level of development witnessed in Laayoune."Based on the aforesaid, we would like you to answer the following questions:- Since when has the Danish Embassy in Rabat started to cooperate withMoroccan parties, especially ones that are trying to undermine thelegitimate attempts to bring about a UN-sanctioned referendum on thestatus of Western Sahara (seehttp://www.map.ma/eng/sections/politics/danish_diplomat_comm/view)?(An example of which is Mohamed Reguibi from the Authenticity andModernity Party saying last year that if PAM's support grows enoughhere, the Polisario leadership would be forced to reach a compromisewith Morocco?)- Has such cooperation officially permitted or authorized by theDanish government?- Given the situation in Tunisia, that could easily spread to itsneighbours, how come the Danish Embassy apparently has a closerelationship with a party that according to media reports is anattempt by the Moroccan King to increase his power in parliament (thefounder of the party has been friends with the King since childhood)?- Do nott the abovementioned facts conflict with the Danish government’sproclamation of wanting to work for a solution to the Western Saharanconflict through the UN? Especially given that the Danish ForeignMinister, Lene Espersen, in a letter to Africa Contact on December 152010 stated that she was deeply concerned about the situation inWestern Sahara?(http://www.afrika.dk/sites/afrika1.antenna.nl/files/Lene%20Espersen-Vestsahara.pdf)- Laayoune lies in an area that is internationally recognised, also byDenmark, as being in an occupied territory. Should not the Danishembassy therefore be a little more careful in issuing positivestatements about the alleged development of the area? In particularwhen it is a well known fact that Morocco uses any positive statementabout its occupied territories in its propaganda to have Western

Danish diplomat meets with royalist Moroccan party in occupied Western Sahara

Danish diplomat meets with royalist Moroccan party in occupied Western Sahara