Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Morocco has agreed to renew a major military exercise by the
United States.

Officials said the North African state re-invited the United States to
launch African Lion-2013, one of the largest exercises in the region. They
said Rabat, which suspended African Lion a day before its scheduled start in
mid-April, agreed to resume preparations in wake of a United Nations
Security Council resolution on Western Sahara.

Officials said the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama had been
stunned by the Moroccan cancellation of African Lion.

They said U.S. ambassador Susan Rice, believed to have been the strongest proponent for monitoring Morocco for human rights, was ordered to work with France, a leading ally
of Rabat, to drop the rights proposal.

On April 26, a high-level Moroccan delegation, which included the
kingdom’s intelligence chief, held talks at the White House with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon. Officials said the Western Sahara as well as defense cooperation marked major topics of discussion.

“When the United States agreed not to support major changes in the
peace-keeping force, then Morocco decided to reschedule African Lion,” an
official said.

On April 25, the Security Council voted unanimously to drop a U.S.-led
initiative to change the UN peace-keeping force in Western Sahara. Under the
failed initiative, the force, known as MINURSO, would monitor Morocco for
human rights violations.

“This is an attack on the national sovereignty of Morocco,” Moroccan
Communications Minister Mustapha Khalfi said.

African Lion was to have included 1,400 U.S. soldiers and 900 Moroccan
personnel. The current edition, meant to have begun on April 16, was
expected to have been the largest yet, with NATO states such as France and
Germany meant to send observers.

Human rights activists said the scrapped resolution would be revived the
next time the mandate for MINURSO comes up for renewal. They said Morocco,
which controls 80 percent of Western Sahara, would come under greater
monitoring by Western states.

“Morocco is now on notice that its rights record in Western Sahara will
come under renewed scrutiny,” Philippe Bolopion, United Nations director for
Human Rights Watch, said.

  African Lion-2013, Morocco re-invites U.S. for exercise after Obama reverses position on western Sahara, Susan Rice, Tom Donilon, Western Sahara