New restrictions on military assistance to Morocco in in the FY12 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bills
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| The military wall dividing the Western Sahara Population |
New restrictions on military assistance to Morocco and Bahrain are introduced in the Senate bill. A portion of Morocco’s FMF is withheld until a report from the Secretary of State confirms that specific steps are being taken by the Government of Morocco to enhance respect for human rights and allow NGOs to operate in the Western Sahara. Bahrain is added to a list of countries such as Cˆote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, and Sri Lanka that may only be provided International Military Education and Training (IMET) through notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations.
The Senate bill allocates funding for Enterprise Funds, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the Export-Import Bank of the United States while the House bill does not. These mechanisms are key components of the Obama administration’s assistance plans to countries undergoing democratic transitions, especially in Egypt and Tunisia.
The Senate bill places a special emphasis on Internet freedom programs, a reflection of the increased prioritization of such funding to the region this year, in particular to Iran, Syria and Bahrain.
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International Peacekeeping Activities
The House bill designates $1.7 billion for International Peacekeeping Activities, while the Senate bill includes $1.9 billion. Of the current UN peacekeeping operations in the region, the final spending level determined would potentially affect funding to: theUnited Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), theUnited Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights in Syria, theUnited Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS), and the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in the Middle East. The lower level in the House may again be a reflection of sentiment expressed in H . R .2583 , which declared, “funds authorized to be appropriated for contributions for international peacekeeping activities shall not be available for the payment of the United States assessed contribution for a United Nations peacekeeping operation in an amount that is greater than 25 percent of the total of all assessed contributions for such operation.”
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Morocco
The Senate bill withholds from obligation $1 million (out of a total $9 million for FY12) of FMF to Morocco until the Secretary of State submits a report on the steps being taken by the Government of Morocco to: “(1) respect the right of individuals to peacefully express their opinions regarding the status and future of the Western Sahara and to document violations of human rights; and (2) provide unimpeded access to human rights organizations, journalists, and representatives of foreign governments to the Western Sahara.”
One main conclusion of POMED’s 2012 budget and appropriations report was that “Democracy programs appear underfunded in Morocco, which offers a real opportunity for support, given the small size of existing programs, the large number of effective NGOs willing to accept U.S. funding, a new reform agenda to which to hold the monarchy accountable, and a government less hostile to such programs than others in the region.” Although the provision proposed above does not provide additional funding to democracy assistance in Morocco, leveraging some of Morocco’s FMF on improving human rights and access of NGO’s in the country does demonstrate an increasing interest on the part of the Senate in supporting political reform in Morocco.
