Rabat – Following Algiers’ unilateral decision to sever diplomatic ties with Morocco, many analysts and observers from both countries are expressing their opinions about the latest developments in Algeria-Morocco relations.
Mustafa Salma, a Sahrawi activist and former Polisario Front “inspector general of police”, pointed to the seperatist front as one of the main reasons for the weakening of the Algerian regime in a Facebook post.
Salma argued that “Algeria’s support of the Polisario has become costly, and not only financially.”
He added, “The Polisario has weakened the Algerian state to the point where it is no longer able to halt Morocco’s developpement, rather separate it from its Sahara.”
The ex-Polisario police chief asserted that Algeria has been funding the seperatist front for decades, losing “billions” in the process, but the most recent blow came with the events of November 13, which confirmed that Algeria’s financial aid was in vain.
The November 13 mention is a reference to the Moroccan army’s intervention in Guerguerat in Western Sahara to lift a Polisario blockade that had been obstructing crucial commercial traffic between Morocco and West Africa.
With the Guerguerat blockade, the Polisario Front sought to draw the international community’s attention to the Western Sahara issue. The group hoped to garner international sympathy while painting Morocco in a bad light, according to some observers.
However, Morocco’s Guerguerat intervention proved to be a strategic success, with many observers and countries expressing support for Morocco after news broke of what Polisario supporters were quick to spin as a heavy-handed response to a “peaceful sit-in.”
To many, Morocco’s success in Guerguerat was a clear indication that Rabat’s diplomatic outreach and strategic investments have thrown Algieria off guard, rendering its funding and support of the Polisario Front inconsequential.
Salma echoed this sentiment, saying: “the intervention cost Algeria something more valuable than money, which is a direct confrontation with Morocco and its allies, and even with the international community.”
According to the former Polisario member, Guerguerat may have been the beginning of the end for Algeria’s sponsoring of Polisario’s statehood aspirations.
“Algeria has worked hard for half a century to make it difficult for Morocco to keep the Sahara, which had it spend huge sums on the Polisario Front,” Salma said. “But Algeria’s funding of the seperatist movement will have it lose its reputation, in addition to the money it already lost.”
