Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco Canberra
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Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco Canberra Last version “Negotiation as a means of Peace and Conflict Resolution The exemplar case of Morocco” ********** Lecture by H.E Mohamed MAEL-AININ Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco at The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies The University of Sydney Thursday 15 March, 2012 1 Dear Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Mr Jake Lynch Professors and students of the University of Sydney, Moroccan Nationals, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Before I start my presentation, I would like to express my gratitude to the Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Dr. Jake LYNCH and to the Council Member, Mr. Abe Quadan who, since our first meeting has made all his best to make this event true. Indeed when I learnt that The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) promotes interdisciplinary research and teaching on the causes of conflict and the conditions that affect conflict resolution and peace, Research projects and other activities focus on the resolution of conflict with a view to attaining just societies, and, aims to facilitate dialogue between individuals, groups or communities who are concerned with conditions of positive peace, whether in interpersonal relationships, community relations, within organisations and nations, or with reference to international relations, I found in it a specialized academic institution that deals with an issue so dear to myself “Negotiation as a means to peaceful settlements of conflicts". Indeed, this is the very essence of any successful diplomacy”. You are all aware that in all the conflicts that humanity has known, the resolution of most of them were found in peaceful negotiations. The conflicts that have turned to the use of force, and unfortunately sometimes to bloodshed must reinforce our belief that the most appropriate means for resolution of any dispute lies in the use of pacific and honest negotiation. Indeed, whether a conflict has economic, administrative or political character, between two or more States, between a State and a non-state entity, the solution of this conflict cannot avoid negotiation at any stage of the conflict. The obligation to pacific settlement of conflicts between States has been defined by the Conferences of the Hague in 1899 and 1907 , by the pact of the League of Nations, by the Charter of the United Nations, by the declaration of 24 October 1970 relating to the principles of International Law pertaining to the 2 friendly relations and cooperation between States, and the Declaration of Manila 1982 on the pacific settlement of International conflicts. All these international regulations are complimentary. For this reason I cite only some articles from the Chapter V of the UN Charter titled “Pacific Settlement of Dispute” which state : Article 33 1. The parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice. 2. The Security Council shall, when it deems necessary, call upon the parties to settle their dispute by such means. Article 34 The Security Council may investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security. Article 37 1. Should the parties to a dispute of the nature referred to in Article 33 fail to settle it by the means indicated in that Article, they shall refer it to the Security Council. 2. If the Security Council deems that the continuance of the dispute is in fact likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, it shall decide whether to take action under Article 36 or to recommend such terms of settlement as it may consider appropriate. Article 38 Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 33 to 37, the Security Council may, if all the parties to any dispute so request, make recommendations to the parties with a view to a pacific settlement of the dispute. 3 The United Nations Charter and all the Conventions cited above constitute a road map for all moral or physical persons who are interested in finding solutions to conflicts in various situations. But what about those situations in history that predate the adoption of these conventions or the existence of the United Nations itself. It is of paramount importance in this context to ask how independent and sovereign States in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, or even before, used to solve conflicts they confronted. It is exactly to illustrate such a situation that I chose the case of my country Morocco, in a view to showing how an independent and sovereign State solved his conflicts at that time. Indeed, Morocco has been an independent State for more than 1222 years. He broke from the Abbaside Arab rule since 789. He was the only Arab State to avoid the Ottoman Rule. Morocco has always played an active role in the story of modern nations. The oldest recorded commercial treaty dated back to the 13th century with Venice. The Andalusia Moorish period remains a landmark in human history of art, science, philosophy and diplomacy. Morocco as well has a long story of alliance and rivalry with Modern European powers due to its strategic location at the crossroad of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe In one of the first general history of Morocco in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Australian historian C.R. Pennell states in his book Morocco since 1830: “At the end of the twentieth century, Morocco is the only major country in the Arab speaking world whose dynastic system of rule substantially predates colonialism.” (C.R. Pennell, Morocco since 1830: A History). Ladies and Gentlemen, In this presentation I will try to shed light on the major events that shaped the modern history of Morocco. In the same historical vein, the focus will be on negotiation as a peaceful means used by the Millennium Moroccan 4 Independent State to solve its international issues and conflicts caused by the repeated attempts of colonialism to undermine its sovereignty. At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the European powers were in a mad rush to colonize Africa and Asia, and to maintain their presence in the Americas whose peoples were beginning to gain independence. Morocco, as an independent State, managed to keep itself from becoming politically involved in the European conflicts of the time, even so those conflicts had direct consequences on its economic life. But the continued pressure from several states all settlers on the central government of Morocco, and the use of military threat and especially economic and diplomatic pressure led the Monarchs to successive negotiations whose primary purpose was to safeguard national sovereignty. European political interest in the Moroccan State was aroused. Spain, Great Britain and France, Morocco’s traditional partners, were joined by newcomers. In order to safeguard the interest of its fast expanding navy, the Kingdom of Naples re-established relations with Morocco in 1834. Belgium installed a Consul General in Tangiers and signed a trade agreement in 1839Other States established diplomatic relations with Morocco recognising him as a sovereign State. The Kingdom of Sweden and Norway dispatched a mission to the country in 1837. Russia likewise displayed interest in Moroccan Affairs, while the United States concluded a treaty of peace and friendship with the Government of Morocco on 17 September 1836. It is fitting here to recall that Morocco is the first country to have recognized the independence of the United States of America in 1776. President Obama reiterated this in his speech in Cairo in 2009. In 1843 the King Mulay Abderrahman, in support of the Algerian leader Emir Abdelkader, who took refuge in Morocco, lost the Battle of Isly against the French army. It was the first conflict Morocco was engaged in with a European power since the sixteenth century. Consequently, the Franco Moroccan boundary treaty of Lalla Maghnia was signed in Tangier on 10 September 1845 to delimit theborder between Morocco and what France considered as “French Algeria”. 5 In November 1859, the Spanish navy landed to the east of Ceuta and at Ouad Martil, the port of Tetouan. On 6 February 1860 Spanish troops tried to occupy Tetouan. The Treaty of Madrid was signed (1861) conceding to Spanish traders the same commercial privileges as the treaty with Britain had done in 1856. The strong personality of the monarch Mulay Hassan I, as great negotiator, led the major European nations and the United States to decide at the Madrid Conference In 1880 to preserve the territorial integrity of Morocco and to maintain equal trade opportunities for all. Until the end of the century, the King Mulay Hassan I (1873-1894) adopted a strategy of avoiding direct military involvement with the French along the Algerian border and the Spanish colonies, Ceuta and Melilia, seeking a diplomatic solution as the only alternative to a dispute. All these States that signed with Morocco accords respecting his sovereignty were aware of the fact that the Moroccan Monarchy system of the time based his national integrity on the oath of allegiance given by the tribes leaders to the sovereign. In this system, each tribe possessed large prerogatives of autonomy over her territory which constituted a part and parcel of the Moroccan nation. Ladies and Gentlemen, Coming to the 20 the century, from 1900 onwards, Morocco became the focal point of European powers rivalry and a coveted strategic territory for the colonial powers.