Rachad,
Thank you for your generous time today. I felt it was a very productive session. As promised here are two questions submitted for the record during a hearing with Secretary Clinton last month:
Madame Secretary, I was pleased to read about your visit to North Africa and Morocco over the past weekend. We all agree that this is a very important moment for the region and I believe that you and I are in agreement that Morocco presents a promising model. Congress and this Committee have long been concerned about the resolving the Western Sahara in a realistic manner.
The Omnibus Spending Bill recently passed by Congress and signed by President Obama directs that US program aid designated for Morocco can be used in the Western Sahara in order to extend Morocco’s reform agenda and support stability in the region. When in the next year do you expect that we will see the State Department establish or extend a program to this region?
I know you share that concern and have worked to reaffirm the US policy of resolving the conflict over the Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario based on a formula of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty to be negotiated between the parties. This policy began under the Clinton Administration and has continued under both President Bush and President Obama. As you know it is strongly supported by a bipartisan majority of both the US House and Senate. You reiterated the continuation of that policy in Morocco over the weekend. We know that drug cartels are filling the security void in the Sahel and that AQIM is getting stronger. We all agree that resolving this issue would create conditions for better economic and security cooperation in the region. Do you believe that we can come to a resolution on this issue in the near future? Thank you Madam Secretary for your time.
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