Moroccan Foreign Minister Meets with US Secretary of State

Please click on blog title to see full remarks.  I've included key comments from both indviduals below.

Secretary Clinton spoke first:

“I thanked the foreign minister for Morocco’s leadership at the summit in Paris last week and for Morocco’s important role in the Arab League’s decision to call for the protection of Libyan civilians. We also discussed the international community’s ongoing efforts to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in Libya.”

“Morocco is well-positioned to lead in this area because it is on the road to achieving democratic change. His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s government has consistently allowed its citizens to express themselves openly and peacefully, and it has been frank and forthcoming about the challenges ahead.”

“The King has long demonstrated his commitment to reform. And earlier this month, in an important address that captured widespread attention, he promised comprehensive reforms that would guarantee free parliamentary elections, including the election of a prime minister, create an independent judiciary, and assure human rights for all of Morocco’s stakeholders, including the Amazigh community.”

“Let me close with an issue that I know is of great importance to Morocco and its neighbors, the Western Sahara. U.S. policy toward the Western Sahara has remained constant from administration to administration. We want to see a peaceful resolution. Starting with the Clinton Administration and continuing through the Bush Administration and up to the present in the Obama Administration, we have stated our belief that Morocco’s autonomy plan is serious, realistic, and credible – a potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity. The United States strongly supports the role of Ambassador Christopher Ross and the United Nations in resolving this issue.”

Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri then spoke:

“There is no Arab exception for the universal principle of dignity and freedom.”

“We talk about the Maghreb and it’s important also to resolve the dispute about Sahara. And let me just remind you that Morocco put an initiative on the table, and thanks to this initiative a new cycle of negotiation start in 2007 and now we are – we progress and we hope that we can resolve this issue, because the Maghreb is a necessity for the five people of the region, but it’s also a necessity for the security in a specific region where al-Qaida work. Al-Qaida is here and try to create problem for – not only for the Maghrebs country but for many, many citizens and countries.”