MAURITANIA DADDAH KNOWS BEST WHEN MAURITANIA WON ITS INDEPENDENCE IN 1960, SOVEREIGNTY 
AND SAND WERE ABOUT ALL IT HAD . SPRAWLED ACROSS THE 
LOWER SAHARA ON AFRICA'S ATLANTIC HUMP, THE ARID NATION IS TWICE 
THE SIZE OF FRANCE BUT HAS ONLY 800,000 PEOPLE AND AN 
AVERAGE PER CAPITA INCOME OF LESS THAN $80 YEARLY . NONETHELESS 
SINCE 1956 MOROCCO HAS BEEN STRUGGLING TO ANNEX " THE STOLEN 
SANDS OF MAURITANIA, " WHICH IT CLAIMS WERE ILLEGALLY TAKEN FROM 
COLONIAL MOROCCO BY FRENCH ARMY SURVEYORS THE LATE KING MOHAMMED V, 
A " MOROCCAN LIBERATION ARMY " EVEN TRIED TO " FREE 
" MAURITANIA ; WITH SUPPORT FROM RUSSIA, MOROCCO MANAGED TO KEEP 
THE NEW NATION OUT OF THE U.N . FOR A WHOLE 
YEAR . DEFYING MOROCCO, MAURITANIA'S SORBONNE-EDUCATED PREMIER MOKTAR OULD DADDAH, 38, 
HAS ARGUED ALL ALONG THAT THERE IS NO HISTORICAL BASIS FOR 
UNION, AND THAT THE TWO COUNTRIES HAVE NEITHER LANGUAGE NOR ETHNIC 
ORIGINS IN COMMON . ONE BY ONE, THE FORMER FRENCH COLONIES 
THAT BACKED MOROCCO'S CLAIMS HAVE ALL DROPPED OUT OF THE BATTLE 
. ALGERIA'S MILITANT AHMED BEN BELLA ALLOWED RECENTLY THAT MAURITANIA'S NATIONHOOD 
IS A " REALITY . " LAST WEEK EVEN NEIGHBORING MALI, 
WHICH ALSO CLAIMED PART OF MAURITANIA AND PERMITTED PRO-MOROCCAN GUERRILLAS TO 
RAID THE DESERT NATION A YEAR AGO, FINALLY BURIED THE HATCHET 
. WITH ROYALTIES BEGINNING TO FLOW INTO HIS TREASURY FROM BIG, 
WESTERN-FINANCED IRON-ORE MINES, OULD DADDAH CUT OFF THE $4,000,000 ANNUAL SUBSIDY 
HIS GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN GETTING FROM FRANCE, THUS EFFECTIVELY ANSWERING AFRICAN 
TAUNTS THAT HE IS A " VALET OF THE FRENCH . 
" HOWEVER, EVEN THOUGH THERE TURNED OUT TO BE GOLD (AND 
IRON) IN MAURITANIA'S SANDS, IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY PLAIN THAT MOROCCO'S 
PRAGMATIC YOUNG KING HASSAN II DOES NOT SHARE HIS FATHER'S FERVENT 
FAITH IN A " GREATER MOROCCO " AND REALIZES, IN ANY 
CASE, THAT ITS BIG NEIGHBOR IS HERE TO STAY . MOREOVER, 
THE KING NOW HAS SUFFICIENT POLITICAL STRENGTH TO RESIST PRESSURE FROM 
THE NATIONALIST ISTIQLAL PARTY, MOST DOGGED ADVOCATE OF MAURITANIA'S ANNEXATION . 
LAST WEEK, HE DECIDED TO REPATRIATE FOUR PROMINENT MAURITANIAN EXILES WHO 
HAD BEEN LEADING THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THEIR COUNTRY FROM MOROCCO FOR 
SEVERAL YEARS . IN MAY, WHEN AFRICA'S LEADERS MEET FOR A 
" SUMMIT " CONFERENCE AT ADDIS ABABA, HASSAN IS EXPECTED TO 
MAKE MOROCCO'S NEW POLICY OFFICIAL . 