Lobbying 2015: Morocco courts US backing in Sahara dispute
Morocco is spending upwards of $3 million a year to convince US politicians – including presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton – to back its claims over the disputed Western Sahara. So far, it’s working.
Morocco's massive lobbying blitz is paying hefty dividends as Congress and Barack Obama's administration increasingly side with the US ally in its claims over the disputed Western Sahara.
The North African kingdom spent $3.1 million last year building support for its exploitation of the resource-rich territory it has occupied since 1975 and claims as its own. While officially the United States still supports a long-delayed referendum on independence — it backed another extension of the UN monitoring mission in April — key policymakers are embracing the status quo.
Pending foreign aid bills in the House and Senate both call for US aid to Morocco to be spent in the disputed region. The move amounts to a de facto recognition of Rabat’s sovereignty over the resource-rich territory.
The change in policy was first introduced into last year’s omnibus spending package at the behest of House Appropriations member Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., a longtime Morocco champion, and was repeated in the current bill. The Moroccan-American Center for Policy (MACP), Rabat's main lobby shop, has had no fewer than 25 meetings, calls and email exchanges with Diaz-Balart and his staff in the six months to April 30, lobbying records show.
