Western Sahara and Wikileaks

First Sahara Wikileak leak: Sarkozy inked deal with OCP

First cable from US embassy mentions 3 billion Euro deals for Sarkozy, as French Western Sahara policy leans towards Moroccan position. Among the agreements signed by Sarkozy, was the nuclear deal with Moroccan phosphate plunderer OCP.

"Sarkozy and entourage completed nearly 3 billion Euros worth of commercial deals and military sales during the visit, including a naval frigate", notes the embassy in the document dated 29 October 2007, in relation to Sarkozy's visit to Morocco.

The letter mentions specifically the agreement signed by French nuclear group Areva and National Phosphate Company (OCP). The deal was to extract uranium from Moroccan phosphoric acid.

OCP carries out the illegal mining in Western Sahara, taking place in violation of the UN legal opinion from 2002.

At the same time, the US embassy noted how Sarkozy annoyed the representatives of the Sahrawi people:

"Sarkozy’s remarks on Sahara appeared to move France closer toward the Moroccan position, and were embraced as such by most of the Moroccan press, which characterized the president’s remarks as a breakthrough for French policy on the Sahara question. (We understand the Polisario leadership has protested Sarkozy’s remarks.)", writes the US embassy in the first confidential letter on Western Sahara published on Wikileaks today.

The Moroccan proposition on the Western Sahara dispute, is to include the territory of Western Sahara into the Moroccan kingdom, without giving a voice to the people of Western Sahara.