Marrakech – Massad Boulos, special advisor to US President Donald Trump for Africa, will reportedly embark on a diplomatic tour of the Maghreb region within the next few days with Morocco as a central destination, according to The Geopolitical Desk media platform.
High-level diplomatic sources revealed that this visit forms part of a broader US initiative to redefine its engagement in North Africa and the Sahel. The diplomatic mission prioritizes conflict resolution and promotes a “commerce rather than aid” doctrine as Washington repositions its strategy on the African continent.
The upcoming tour will focus on high-level consultations designed to establish the groundwork for future peace initiatives. This follows several months of sustained but discreet diplomatic contacts with key regional political actors, according to the sources.
Boulos has previously distinguished himself as a special envoy in the Great Lakes region, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, where his diplomatic efforts helped unblock previously stalled negotiations. He now faces more complex political challenges in Libya and Sudan.
This initiative builds on momentum from a recent White House meeting with five African heads of state, during which President Trump declared that his administration would spearhead peace efforts in Libya and Sudan, marking a clear break from previous approaches.
The Moroccan leg of the tour is considered particularly important. According to anonymous diplomatic sources, the selection of Morocco as an anchor point demonstrates a willingness to engage partners considered pivotal in regional balances.
Morocco, whose diplomatic position has strengthened in recent years, is viewed in Washington as a partner capable of supporting regional dialogue. This confidence stems from the extensive US-Moroccan security exchanges and Rabat’s active participation in multilateral forums such as the African Union (AU) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Boulos tossed a match, then raced to grab water
In April, Boulos ignited a diplomatic firestorm with a series of ill-conceived statements that momentarily threatened to undermine Morocco’s territorial sovereignty.
During his interview with Al-Hadath channel, Boulos erroneously claimed that President Trump’s December 10, 2020 proclamation “was not absolute, but left the door open for a solution that satisfies all parties” – a catastrophic mischaracterization that directly contradicted established US policy.
Even more provocatively, Boulos parroted the discredited Algerian regime’s narrative by referencing “200,000 Sahrawi refugees living in Algeria still waiting for a definitive solution” – an inflated figure that lacks any credible verification and serves only to legitimize Algeria’s obstruction of UN-mandated census efforts.
These statements represented a dangerous deviation from the official position outlined in the State Department’s declaration following the April 8 meeting between Secretary Marco Rubio and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita – a statement that unequivocally reaffirmed Washington’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty.
Recognizing the geopolitical damage of his misstatements, Boulos executed a rapid about-face. Within hours, he published a post on his X account reasserting the US administration’s unwavering support for Morocco’s territorial integrity.
This was followed by an expeditious phone interview with Medi 1 TV less than 24 hours after the Al-Hadath debacle, where he forcefully clarified that the Trump administration considers Morocco’s autonomy proposal the only legitimate framework for resolving the artificial dispute.
Political analysts noted that Boulos’s initial remarks bore the unmistakable imprint of Algeria’s increasingly desperate propaganda machine – a failing narrative designed to falsely portray Algeria as a neutral observer rather than the primary architect and sustainer of the moribund separatist movement.
His uncritical repetition of the 200,000 refugee figure particularly alarmed regional experts, as it lent undeserved credibility to Algeria’s systematic exploitation of the humanitarian situation.
This figure stands in stark contrast to Morocco’s assessment that the actual population does not exceed 60,000 individuals – many of whom have no genuine connection to the Moroccan Sahara, according to historical CIA intelligence reports.
Algeria’s decades-long refusal to permit a proper census of the Tindouf camps reveals its fundamental insecurity about the demographic reality that would undermine its carefully constructed geopolitical fiction.
The regime continues to weaponize inflated population figures to maximize international aid – much of which is systematically misappropriated according to the European Anti-Fraud Office’s damning 2015 report.
The swift intervention following Boulos’s missteps demonstrates the Trump administration’s firm commitment to a definitive resolution based on Morocco’s Autonomy Plan – not as a negotiating starting point but as the ultimate geopolitical endgame that will finally dismantle Algeria’s anachronistic regional destabilization project.
This decisive correction signals Washington’s growing recognition that Algeria – not its proxy organization – constitutes the true obstacle to regional stability and integration.
For Algiers, this represents an unprecedented diplomatic challenge: never before has it confronted a US administration so determined to bring this manufactured dispute to a conclusion that fully safeguards Morocco’s legitimate sovereignty over its southern provinces.
The Trump administration is expected to present a new draft resolution on Western Sahara to UN Security Council members by late October – a text that will likely further isolate the increasingly marginalized separatist position and accelerate the international community’s embrace of Morocco’s sovereignty.
As Washington considers a diplomatic return to the region, the success of Boulos’s Maghreb tour in generating major momentum in these long-paralyzed peace processes will be decisive.
