Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs

Morocco

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The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (Arabic: المجلس الملكي الاستشاري للشؤون الصحراوية‎) or Corcas, from the French abbreviation of Conseil royal consultatif pour les affaires sahariennes, is an advisory committee to the Moroccan government on the Western Sahara. It was originally devised by King Hassan II in the 1970s, but allowed to expire, and renewed by his son, Mohammed VI in early 2006, after the proposal of an autonomy plan devised to replace the United Nations' Baker Plan. The autonomy plan is opposed by the Algeria backed Polisario Front, which demands that the United Nations resolutions and Moroccan-Polisario agreements calling for a referendum be implemented.

Mission

The CORCAS is intended as a consultative body for proposals related to what Morocco regards as its Southern Provinces, but also to defend the kingdom's "territorial integrity" in the media and in international fora.

Task of the Council is to facilitate dialogue with the Sahrawi in the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria.

Composition

The 141 members of CORCAS are Sahrawi and Moroccan political and traditional (tribal) notables (sheikhs), elected representatives for women and youth groups and civic society officials. The members are appointed by the Moroccan government and support the Moroccan claims on Western Sahara. Of these members 14 (10%) are women^{[citation needed]} . Notably, the father of Polisario leader Mohamed Abdelaziz is a member of the CORCAS.

Its chairman, Khelli Henna Ould Rachid, is a former leader of the PUNS, a now-defunct political party operated by the Spanish colonial government to rally support for its rule in then-Spanish Sahara in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} After the departure of the Spanish in 1975, which caused the dissolution of the PUNS, he became a defender of Morocco's position on the Sahara, and became a figurehead for the Moroccan government's rule in the Western Sahara.^{[citation needed]}

There are nine vice-presidents: Khedad Moussaoui, Hassan Derham, Abdelaziz Abba, Omar Bouida, Ali Salem Chekaf, Othmane Ila, Hassana Cherif, Brika Zerouali and Kaltoum Khyate.^{[citation needed]}

CORCAS set up five commissions, envisaged by its statutes ^[1] ,

• the commission for social affairs, human development and the environment;
• the commission for external affairs and cooperation;
• the commission for the defense of human rights, public freedoms and the populations of the camps;
• the commission for economic affairs, education and training;
• and the commission for the promotion of the Hassanie culture, information and communication.

International activities

The CORCAS leadership travels extensively and is regularly featured in the Moroccan press. Its chairman, Khellihenna Ould Errachid, regularly attends meetings in foreign forums, such as the UN, where the Sahara question is discussed. Among others, the CORCAS president has met with the President of the People's Republic of China president, the former French foreign minister, and various other international officials.

The chairman of Corcas as well as the Secretary General, Dr Maouelainin Ben Khalihenna Maouelainin, are the spokesman of the Moroccan delegation in Manhassett talks under the supervision of the personal envoy of the Secretary General of the UN.

Criticism

In an interview with the independent Moroccan weekly magazine Le Journal Hebdomadaire, CORCAS member El Houcine Baïda a former victim of Human Rights abuses by Polisario, and head of PASVERTI Association of Sahrawi victims of repression in the Tindouf Camps, as chairman of the Human Rights Commission within CORCAS complained about the lack of tackling human rights issues, and about the way CORCAS president Khellihenna runs the Council. In his opinion, the country's actions in the Southern Provinces were alienating Sahrawis, and thus could push more youth towards separatism. He further claimed that most of the organization's members were allowed no knowledge of the government's autonomy plan - that they were supposedly responsible for drafting - and that CORCAS chairman Khellihenna Ould Errachid runs the council's affairs despotically, and on a trip occasion behaved with him like "a new Franco".^[2]. Beida is at odd terms personally with the CORCAS chairman, and has been part of all delegations that had the task of explaining the mission of the CORCAS abroad.

Notes

External links

• Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) – Official site in (Arabic) (English) (French) (Spanish)
• Le CORCAS (French)
• Video of Corcas president Khali Henna Ould Rachid, introducing the mission of the council

See also

• History of Morocco
• History of Western Sahara
• Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)
• Sahrawi National Council (SNC)