Rabat – With Libya having denounced and distanced itself from an Algerian-led attempt to create a Maghreb Union without Morocco, Algeria’s regime is now actively working to defuse the situation.
Despite its well-documented hostility to Morocco, the Algerian government now claims that its vision of reviving the regional union does not seek to “exclude anyone” as the country does not intend to create more tensions and divisions in the Maghreb.
In a thinly veiled response to Libay’s recent dismissive comments on the idea of an alternative Maghreb Union without Morocco, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf said on Thursday that Algiers is committed to regional solidarity and does not want to exclude anyone from its Maghreb Union project.
Last week, the office of Tunisian President Kais Saied announced that Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune would be arriving in Tunis this past Monday as part of a “consultative” meeting to discuss the Maghreb Union.
Mohamed Yunus al Menfi, the head of Libya’s Presidential Council, also received an invitation to attend the Tunis meeting.
Following the Tunis meeting, however, Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita received a representative from the Libyan Council who carried a written message to King Mohmmed VI from Al Menfi.
Morocco’s news agency MAP also quoted a source close to the Libyan Presidential Council as stressing that the message to the Moroccan monarch reaffirmed Libya’s rejection of any attempt to create an alternative framework to replace the old Maghreb Union.
In particular, the Libyan source noted the urgent need to strengthen the regional entity created in 1989 in Marrakech by the five countries of the region.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Abu Bakr Ibrahim al Taweel, the acting charge d’affaires of the Libyan embassy in Morocco, emphatically hailed the fraternal ties between Libya and Morocco and expressed gratitude to Morocco for its constant support for the Libyan cause.
In his response to Libya’s stance, Attaf was quoted by Algerian media as saying that the meeting in Tunis was in fact not “directed against any party.”
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The Arab Maghreb Union is a “project and a historical objective,” he claimed, adding that the door to consultations remains “open to all if political intention and will are united.”
The top Algerian diplomat further claimed that the ongoing talks are part of the Algerian president’s efforts to address the pressing need for fostering regional integration and solidarity.
“North Africa and the Arab Maghreb are practically the only region in the world without a mechanism for regular and periodic consultation among the countries of this pace,” he said.
Attaf’s justification comes in the wake of Algeria’s regime’s provocative move and interference in the domestic affairs of several countries in the region, including Morocco and Libya.
Notably, Algeria’s regime supports the separatist Polisario Front’s independence claims in Western Sahara to challenge Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces.
In 2022, Libyan representatives also accused Algeria of “interference in Libya’s sovereign affairs.”
Beyond the Maghreb and North Africa, Mali has also condemned the Algerian regime’s involvement in unfriendly acts towards the West African country.
In January, Malian government officials said Algeria’s regime had played a double game and interfered in their country’s domestic affairs after the Sahel country’s army engaged in clashes with local separatist militant groups.
