A rare glimpse into Morocco’s covert diplomacy and intelligence operations has emerged through a cache of confidential correspondence dated October 2008. Dispatched from the Moroccan embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, these letters detail Rabat’s carefully orchestrated infiltration and counter-offensive strategy aimed at weakening the Polisario Front and pushing back Algerian influence across Central America, leveraging intelligence provided by the Sahrawi diplomat Salama Ould Hennane.
Tribal divisions as a tool to fracture the Polisario
At the core of these revelations lies what Rabat saw as a golden opportunity: the potential defection of senior Polisario figures. The Moroccan ambassador reports being repeatedly approached by a man using the pseudonym M. Sliman – later identified as Salama Ould Hennane, a native of Dakhla from the Oulad Dlim tribe and a former “ambassador” of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (RASD) to Panama and Central America.
Sliman painted a grim picture of the separatist movement, describing a “very strong discontent” brewing within its ranks. The root cause, he explained, was blatant favouritism by the Polisario leadership toward the Rguibatte tribe, to the detriment of others such as Oulad Dlim, Oulad Tidrarine, Ait Lahcen, Ait Baamran, and the Takna confederation.
The former separatist diplomat believed the time was ripe to deal a decisive blow:
“This is the ideal moment to take action within the Polisario, to weaken it further and unite the movement’s opponents around the autonomy project.”
Sliman claimed to have secured agreement from several prominent RASD figures to launch an internal rebellion, including:
- Ahmed ould Souilem, delegate minister for Arab countries.
- Mahfoud Ould Ahmed Zine, former minister and military zone chief.
- Mansour, former foreign minister and representative in Paris.
The audacious plan proposed to Morocco’s DGED (Direction Générale des Études et de la Documentation, the external intelligence service) was to push these individuals to form an official opposition group, announce their dissent at an international press conference – likely in Madrid – and declare their public support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan. Ambassador Moussa also suggested using Sliman as a “mole” to drive the destabilisation forward.
The Central American chessboard: Algeria’s blank cheque
Beyond internal fractures, the letters unveil a fierce influence battle between Rabat and Algiers in Latin America. In October 2008, Moroccan diplomats learned that a high-level Algerian delegation led by Ambassador M. Baali, Algeria’s envoy to Washington, was preparing a tour of Central America. Algiers’ goal was to counter the momentum of Morocco’s UN-backed autonomy initiative. To win over Latin capitals, Algeria rolled out a “package of cooperation projects” – a euphemism for financial and economic aid – in exchange for alignment with separatist positions. Simultaneously, the Polisario sent its envoy Mohamed Yaslem Beissat to Panama to shore up support.
Panama: The strategic pivot
Panama emerged as the epicentre of this tug-of-war. The documents confirm a major cooling of relations between Panama City and the separatists. Panamanian authorities refused to accredit a new RASD ambassador, downgrading the Sahrawi representation to the lower rank of “chargé d’affaires”. In response, the Moroccan ambassador urged Rabat to send an official envoy to seal the bilateral rapprochement and permanently block Algerian advances. He also revealed he had activated trusted networks within Panama’s power structure to stymie Polisario requests, brandishing a thinly veiled threat: any backtrack by Panama “could harm bilateral relations with the Kingdom of Morocco”.
Inside Mohamed Abdelaziz’s secret agenda
The intelligence gathered by the embassy was remarkably precise. A document dated October 27, 2008, details the upcoming schedule of Polisario leader Mohamed Abdelaziz: a visit to New York on November 4 to meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, followed by a trip to Valencia, Spain, on November 9 for the closing of the European Conference in Support of the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO). These diplomatic archives lay bare the raw realities of the Sahara conflict – a shadow war where North Africa and Latin America intersect, and where alliances are forged as much in secret embassy salons as in the arena of tribal rivalries.
