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Join on Telegram Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has reportedly ousted his ambassador to Mauritania.
The Algerian president made the decision on Tuesday, converging reports have indicated, adding that the decision was received by analysts as a “diplomatic blunder.”
Analysts’ negative interpretation of the move comes amid ongoing rapprochement between Morocco and Mauritania.
The news website Anbaa Info said the Algerian ambassaor’s sacking was an outraged response to Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani’s “successful” visit to Morocco.
King Mohammed VI received the Mauritanian President in December, with both leaders expressing their shared determination to give a new impetus to bilateral cooperation at all levels.
The visit also served as an opportunity to emphasize the importance of the positive developments in the partnership across different sectors.
President Ghazouani’s visit came after converging reports highlighted the frequent exchanges of high-level visits between d Mauritanian and Moroccan delegations.
In December, a high level meeting took place between Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and the President of Mauritania’s National Assembly Mohamed Ould Meguett.
The meeting served as a platform to discuss the state of bilateral ties, with both parties vowing to expand their burgeoning relationship to a wide range of areas.
Making the rapprochement between Nouakchott and Rabat especially significant is the fact that Mauritania is one of the main parties to the Western Sahara dispute.
Mauritania recognizes Polisario’s self-styled SADR, but has for decades avoided aligning itself with any anti-Moroccan rhetoric or policies by the Algerian regime, which has relentlessly undermined Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces.
Read also: Algeria Threatens to Sanction France over Its New Position on Western Sahara
Algeria’s move to sack its ambassador could have been triggered by frustration over and fear of any potential shift in Mauritania’s position on the Western Sahara dispute.
Morocco has seen its stance gather considerable momentum in recent years, with countries like the US, France, and Spain all joining the growing chorus of support for the Moroccan position.
The growing support makes Algeria’s isolated regime increasingly involved in maneuvers in an attempt to undermine Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
The Algerian regime shares its anti-Morocco rhetoric at all international forums, reiterating its support for the Polisario Front’s “self-determination” claims despite UN resolutions having decisively ruled out this option as a realistic path to lasting resolution of the Sahara dispute.
Instead, the UN resolutions have consistently called for a mutually acceptable political solution, hailing the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as the most viable path to such a solution.
Algeria has long claimed selfless and “principled” commitment to the defense of the “oppressed Sahrawi people” as the main motivation behind its support for th separatist Polisario Front. But many independent reports and intelligence assessments have cast serious doubt on this Algerian narrative.
According to a December 1977 CIA document declassified in November 2012, Algeria’s goal in the Sahara dispute is to establish an independent separatist republic in southern Morocco to undermine the kingdom’s sovereignty and to become the dominant power in North Africa.
“Algeria’s objective in the dispute is the establishment of an independent Saharan republic, in which it expects to have a predominant influence. This would deny Morocco the territory’s significant economic resources and stymie Moroccan efforts to restrict future Algerian access to the Atlantic,” the CIA document said. It stressed that Algeria uses “the ostensible reason” of supporting Polisario’s self-determination only to challenge Morocco’s predominance in northwest Africa.
