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Rabat – Algeria has taken another provocative move against Morocco’s territorial integrity by appointing a “special envoy in charge of Western Sahara and the Maghreb.”
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune made the announcement on Sunday as he presented seven newly created diplomatic positions he dubbed “special envoys.”
Among them is Amar Belani, a former Algerian ambassador in Brussels and former spokesperson for the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Per the new appointments, Belani is now tasked with taking on the newly created position of Western Sahara and Maghreb envoy to oversee Algiers’ hostile approach toward Morocco’s domestic affairs.
During his career as a diplomat, Belani frequently endorsed the position of his country toward Western Sahara, repeatedly making controversial – and sometimes downright provocative – statements regarding Morocco’s territorial integrity.
Belani, who was his country’s point man for the EU during his ambassadorship in Brussels, notably accused a number of EU officials of “working with” Morocco to the detriment of North African stability.
In taking issue with Morocco-EU relations, the Algerian diplomat was especially against the renewal of agriculture and fisheries agreements between Brussels and Rabat. The agreements, he said, echoing a long-standing pro-Polisario mantra, were illegal and lent legitimacy to Morocco’s “occupation” and “illegal exploitation” of its southern provinces.
Backing the separatist Polisario Front’s claims, Algeria has long described the agreements between the EU and Morocco as a violation of international law.
In their lobbying campaign against the agreement, Polisario and Algeria promote claims that such agreements are not beneficial to locals in Morocco’s southern provinces.
Several delegations, including members of the consulates general in the southern provinces, have however commended the large-scale socio-economic transformations in the region, disqualifying the Polisario and Algeria’s claims.
Responding to the Polisario’s campaign against the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement in January 2019, a group of Sahrawis supported the renewal of the deal in a petition.
“The theory that the Fisheries Agreement and the Agricultural Agreement do not benefit the local population concerned is not valid … To oppose these two Agreements would put at risk the thousands of families who are financially dependent on maritime and agricultural activities in our southern provinces,” said the petition.
Algeria’s controversial appointment of a Western Sahara envoy comes also amid the turmoil of its decision to cut diplomatic relations with Morocco.
In a characteristically hostile statement on August 24, Algeria announced its decision to sever all diplomatic relations with Morocco. The Algerian government justified its decision by claiming that Morocco had a hand in the tragic wildfires that swept through the country’s Kabylie region in early and mid-August.
Morocco denied what it called fallacious claims, regretting Algeria’s “unilateral and unjustified” decision. Rabat added, however, that it would remain a credible and loyal partner for the Algerian people despite heightened political tensions with the Algerian government.
