Sahara: Algiers’ Hostility Hampers Attempts to Move Forward Towards Common Future for Maghreb Region (Newspaper)

By persisting in their hostility towards Morocco, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his Foreign Minister, Sabri Boukadoum, have no other concerns in their statements than to provoke the Kingdom and undermine its national unity, thus hampering any attempt to move forward towards a common future for the Maghreb region, underlines Arabic-speaking newspaper +Al-Ittihad Al-Ichtiraki+.

In an op-ed entitled “With a little reasoning about the Moroccan Sahara … Unity of the Maghreb begins” by Talaa Saoud Al-Atlassi, the publication wonders in its Thursday edition if “there are reasonable people in Algeria”.

“Yes, there are. But, it seems that they are engaged in what could be considered a strike of silence: by coercion, shame or recklessness regarding the direction of Algeria”, the newspaper notes.

The publication affirms that personalities having served the Algerian regime, recognized explicitly or implicitly, when their Maghrebian conscience awakened, the interest of the Algerian state to put an end to its hostile maneuvers against Morocco.

These figures now observe a silence that could be interpreted as a break with the policy of their state, underlines the author of the article, mentioning late Moujahid Lakhdar Bouqaraa, one of the leaders of the Algerian liberation war.

The author of the article recalls in this regard that the deceased was arrested for eight months, in what could look like a rupture with one of the rare living arteries which connect the present of Algeria to its history of liberation and its Maghrebian space.

Bouqaraa got out of jail, tired of the oppression of “relatives”, before his immunity weakened against the attack of the “virus” until his death, Saoud Al-Atlassi says, adding that Lakhdar Bouqraaa was one of the defenders of the Maghreb cause in Algeria, alongside dozens of personalities who were active on the Algerian political scene for decades.

These personalities do not dare to break the silence today, some of them being anxious, while most of them are under duress or simply enraged, the author of the article points out.

He notes that the generals have offered the presidency of the country to a president who spent the second decade of his “reign” ill, then unfit. “Now they have handed “power” over to another president who suffers from a double weakness: overt illness and apparent inability to shoulder the burden of a regime in crisis.”

The publication underlines that several European and American think-tanks have analyzed and detailed the crises in Algeria: the crisis of a state affected by the conflicts and intrigues of its bosses, the generals, and the crisis of a society which lacks everything and which today stands up for its rights to life and dignity.

The newspaper believes that the structural economic crisis resulting from the drastic fall in hydrocarbon revenues, the main lever of the Algerian economy which has not been able to develop or diversify its sources of income, has made the State unable to satisfy the needs of citizens, in addition to the inability to respond to the demands of respect for the fundamental rights of the Algerian people.

According to the author of the article, it would have been better if the wise men of Algeria created a space or a platform so that their voices can be heard. In this case, the first advice to give to those who speak in the name of the Algerian state, these provocative voices, is to be silent, because they only increase the prejudices and the hatred against Morocco, Saoud Al-Atlassi underlines.

According to him, this is precisely what poisons and paralyzes the capacity of the Algerian power to realize that Morocco is immune and strong enough to preserve its territorial integrity and its national unity.

The newspaper also highlights the inability of Algiers to cope with geostrategic changes in the world and in the region, stressing that these transformations show that the world powers will not encourage Algeria and will not allow the creation of a state which depends on it, in the Sahel and Sahara region, an area where separatist, terrorist and criminal movements proliferate.

These countries “will not rather allow all of this to be directed against Morocco,” the newspaper stresses, noting that the recent UN Security Council resolution reflects this international desire to end the conflict over the Moroccan Sahara through the Moroccan peace initiative.

The parties to international conflicts, which reformulate and define the positions and the balance of power in the world, have strong and effective interests with Morocco, “either because it is an ally, a friend, or at least it has the will to cooperate and is full of assets to do so”, the publication points out.

Morocco is open to all parties: the United States, the European Union, Russia, China and Great Britain, says Saoud Al-Atlassi, explaining that these powers are aware of the important contribution of Morocco to cooperation in the areas of security, economy and trade.

These countries also consider Morocco as a stable state which has laid the solid foundations for its socio-economic development, says the author of the article, referring to the recent statements of the head of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union at the the European Parliament, Andrea Cozzolino, who affirmed that “Morocco remains the only stable and reliable partner of the European Union in the whole South Mediterranean region”.

On the other hand, the newspaper highlights the “binding test” that Morocco has undergone with the COVID-19 pandemic which has changed the world, noting that this health crisis was an opportunity to prove the immunity of the Moroccan State and its ability to protect the right to life of its people.

It is also about limiting, reducing, or even absorbing, the negative repercussions of the pandemic on vital social and economic sectors, Al-Atlassi notes, adding that Bank Al-Maghrib (Morocco’s central bank) expects a growth rate of 5.3% of the Moroccan economy this year.

On the other hand, the Algerian state is disoriented, still suffers from its crises, and lacks the means to adapt to the tremors currently experiencing the world and the region, the publication notes, adding that Algiers cannot seduce the international community by its weak offer that is disconnected from the regional and global context on the political, strategic and economic level.

The author of the article recalls the latest “political effort” made by the Algerian state, adding that this useless maneuver was orchestrated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sabri Boukadoum, through the manipulation of the government of Kenya within the Peace and Security Council of the African Union to publish a statement that goes against the decisions of the AU and its approach adopted since Morocco’s return to this continental organization.

According to Al-Atlassi, this maneuver is among “the cries of despair expressed over the past few months, whether from Mr. Boukadoum from time to time, and when he is in a position to speak, or from President Tebboune himself”.

These are cries that are not led by a political mind concerned with the interests of Algeria, but rather guided by the mentality of those who are not interested in understanding the political and geographical changes underway near the country and in the region, he stresses.

It is also about a “spirit” which is not interested in facing the internal crises by opening perspectives for a solution, of which the most important remains that of the Maghreb union, the publication notes, stressing that “the Moroccan Sahara will undoubtedly be the starting point for its achievement”.

The Algerian state urgently needs wise people in order to protect it against its generals, their relatives and those who take advantage of the country’s crises, support a separatist movement and launch provocations that increase tension between Algeria and the Kingdom, concludes Saoud Al-Atlassi.