The clashes that tear Morocco and Algeria apart

The clashes between Moroccans and Algerians today cannot be reduced to the musical titles of rappers. This has unfortunately become the rule for political videos broadcast by the two Maghreb peoples.

The YouTube content broadcast in Morocco and Algeria has become alarming as it reflects a growing hatred between two almost similar peoples, who have always been joined by a common culture and history. Indeed, several empires that were established in the Maghreb united the peoples of Morocco, Algeria and even Mauritania, Tunisia and Libya. However, the traces and borders of the colonial era continue until now to tear the lands of these countries and the feelings of all the Maghreb people.

This suffering is more intense among the nomads who still feel like citizens of the former United Great Maghreb and who still have to carry out their natural journeys by confronting the artificial mines between the perilous deserts of Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. The demonstrations of these nomads are not enough to abolish these ridiculous borders which divide a desert which historically belongs to all North Africans. United Nations Security Council resolutions have never been able to respond positively to such problems. In addition, the expulsion of some thirty Moroccan farmers from a palm grove that they naturally exploited on the Algerian side of the borders only increased the anger of the inhabitants of Figuig in Morocco and Béchar in Algeria against the present border which tears apart the glorious past of the North Africans.

Mitigating this great political and social disaster in the Maghreb

The political decisions of the Maghreb countries have only made the situation worse. Algeria solemnly refuses the Saharan borders claimed by Morocco and continues to support the Polisario Front. Algeria even sees that Morocco is a hostile country and refuses today that its neighbor to the West takes advantage of natural resources or aerial domain Algerians. The Moroccan-Algerian agreement regarding the Gara Djebilet iron mine, which symbolized the rejection of colonial borders, was even unilaterally abolished by Algiers. Morocco, meanwhile, has begun to openly support the thesis of an independent Kabylie and risks supporting Tuareg revolts in southern Algeria. Moreover, Morocco is trying at all costs to win the support of the constituent countries of the United Nations for its cause, which has led to an alarming political and economic isolation for Algeria.

Read : Rupture of diplomatic relations: things are heating up between Morocco and Algeria!

The other constituents of the Maghreb, notably Mauritania and Tunisia, remain more or less undecided on this subject while eyeing Morocco or Algeria to receive better offers or economic offerings. The major political parties in Morocco and Algeria, especially the communists among them, no longer attempt to react as before by giving objective recommendations capable of mitigating this great political and social disaster in the Maghreb. The United Nations, which is weakening more and more, is unable to decide on the famous Sahara issue and this risks leading the entire Maghreb region towards a possible weakening and disappointing “balkanization”. The armies of the West then take advantage of this situation to sell their weapons and to strengthen themselves in Morocco, while the “eastern” armies, which wish the reincarnation of the USSR, also take advantage of it to sell their weapons and to position themselves well in Algeria.

The end of the era of non-alignment in the Maghreb?

Does this mark the end of the era of non-alignment in the Maghreb? All North African thinkers know that no one can come out a winner in the war, but do the peoples of the Maghreb, who never stop repeating the famous saying “khaoua-khaoua”, have the capacity to dissuade their governments from destroy the region through a new armed conflict? Is the United Nations Organization so weak that it cannot prevent the obvious germination of a new swamp not far from Europe, between the Sahel and the Mediterranean?

By Akram Louiz: Author, Poet, Merchant Navy Lieutenant First Class