Algeria reiterates its commitment towards the Maghreb Union Project. But how can a regional union be possible amid Algeria’s hostile position against Morocco’s territorial integrity?
Rabat – Speaking after the second roundtable discussions on the Western Sahara, Deputy Prime Minister of Algeria Ramtane Lamamra said Algeria reiterated the need to hold a meeting with the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU).
Lamamra, who represented Algeria during the second roundtable discussion on Western Sahara held Thursday and Friday near Geneva, said that his country “made contributions regarding regional construction.”
Commenting on the second roundtable, Lamamra said that the meeting emphasized the “continuation of efforts and hopefully with more concrete measures, more significant advances in this [UN-led] process.”
Read Also: After Geneva Roundtable, Morocco Calls for Realism in Western Sahara
Lamamra implied that his country is still firm on its position that the Western Sahara conflict should be solved between Morocco and the Polisario Front only.
Quoted by Algerian news agency APS, Lamamra said that the agenda for this second round table “was essentially based, first and foremost, on the need for confidence-building measures between the two parties to the conflict, Morocco and the Polisario Front.”
He added that the meeting was also marked by “an exchange of views on the critical importance of building confidence between the two sides.”
In several prior statements, Morocco has condemned Algeria’s unwillingness to shoulder its responsibility
In recent years, the Moroccan government called on Algeria to shoulder its responsibility in the conflict, including in the alleged unbearable situation of Sahrawis living in the Tindouf camps.
In November 2018, King Mohammed VI addressed a direct invitation to Algeria, offering a dialogue initiative to break the stalemate between the two countries.
Through a speech addressed on the anniversary of the Green March, the King called for a direct and frank dialogue between the two countries.
The lack of unity between the Maghreb countries is “an unreasonable situation” which contradicts “the brotherly bonds uniting” the peoples of Morocco and Algeria, according to the monarch.
In addition to its position on the conflict, Algeria also ignores Morocco’s invitation to open border between the two counties.
Algeria’s border with Morocco has been closed since 1994 after Morocco announced a new visa requirement for Algerians following the Marrakech terrorist attack thought, at the time, to have been perpetrated by Algiers.
