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Marrakech – Morocco’s El Guergarat border crossing, which emerged as a potent symbol of Morocco’s territorial integrity after Polisario’s flagrant breach of the 1991 ceasefire in 2020, will no longer stand alone as the country’s sole territorial connection with Mauritania.
A new strategic corridor at Amgala is poised for inauguration within two weeks, Moroccan officials confirmed, noting that the Amgala-Mauritania border road will open within this timeframe. The project has progressed steadily since February 2024, when Morocco discreetly launched construction works, entrusting the project to the Royal Armed Forces (FAR).
During a political gathering in Smara on Saturday, Nizar Baraka, Morocco’s Minister of Equipment and Secretary General of the Istiqlal Party, unveiled that construction work on the road linking Smara to the Mauritanian border via Amgala is on the verge of completion. “The corridor will be inaugurated in the two weeks to come,” Baraka proclaimed.
This strategic project constitutes a vital component in reinforcing road connections between Morocco and Mauritania, catalyzing commercial and economic exchanges between the two countries.
Baraka spotlighted the meticulous monitoring by the Ministry of Equipment to guarantee rapid and efficient implementation. “We will continue working with our Mauritanian brothers to open a border crossing at the appropriate time,” he articulated.
The announcement by the Moroccan minister surfaces at a moment when this project commands significant attention. It represents a second passage complementing the El Guergarat border crossing, engineered to streamline the movement of goods and people and invigorate economic activity in the southern provinces of the country.
Baraka reiterated that this strategic project will bolster Morocco’s continental connectivity, galvanize trade, and ease the movement of people and goods, characterizing the crossing as “not just a transportation route, but a bridge connecting the southern regions of the Kingdom to its African depth.”
He forecasted that this crossing would function as “a fundamental driver for stimulating trade exchange and mobility, ensuring smooth flow of goods and services” in the region.
According to a report from the National Agency for Statistics and Demographic and Economic Analysis in Mauritania released in May, trade between Nouakchott and Rabat represents 17% of Mauritania’s total exchange with the African continent.
During his address, Baraka asserted that cooperation between Morocco and Mauritania in this regard is “ongoing and permanent,” adding that “the will is there and the work is there.”
Baraka also divulged the allocation of funds for 2026 to rehabilitate the road connecting Laayoune and Smara.
He illuminated other major projects currently underway, such as the Tiznit-Dakhla expressway, the Dakhla Atlantic port, programs to eliminate substandard housing, as well as projects related to renewable energy and phosphates.
The official also declared that 2025 should be a decisive year in resolving the Western Sahara dispute through the adoption of the autonomy initiative under Moroccan sovereignty, pinpointing it as the only realistic solution.
This declaration comes just weeks before the anticipated meeting of the UN Security Council – dedicated to examining developments in the Western Sahara file and evaluating the possibility of extending the mandate of MINURSO, which expires on October 31.
Polisario plots chaos, dragging Mauritania into war
The Mauritanian Ministry of Interior and Decentralization confirmed, in an official document dated February 11, the creation of 82 mandatory border posts for the circulation of persons and goods across the national territory, including the crossing between Amgala and Bir Oum Grine – classified as bilateral and open – in accordance with laws and agreements in force.
The 93-kilometer road infrastructure connecting Smara to the Mauritanian border through Amgala and Tifariti cost MAD 49.7 million (approximately $5 million). The project encompasses four road sections, with the final 53-kilometer stretch of National Road 17 completed at a cost of MAD 28.23 million ($2.9 million).
The first three sections, totaling 40 kilometers, were also completed on schedule between 2017 and 2023, with investments of MAD 7 million (2017), MAD 9.54 million (2022), and MAD 4.92 million (2023). Final horizontal and vertical signage work has also been carried out across all sections.
A roadside station covering 3,600 square meters was built to serve travelers at a construction cost of MAD 900,000. The station incorporates facilities including a mosque, functional housing, a café, and sanitary amenities.
Meanwhile, the renegade Polisario Front has ratcheted up tensions by issuing brazen military threats against Mauritania over the country’s plans to open this new commercial border crossing with Morocco.
In inflammatory statements circulated by pro-separatist propaganda outlets, militant Polisario leader Bachir Mustapha Sayed threatened to drag Nouakchott into armed conflict, alleging that the new crossing would “turn Sahrawi borders into Moroccan borders” and “embroil Mauritania in a war between brothers.”
These belligerent threats echo similar intimidation tactics deployed in December 2019, when Polisario chieftain Ibrahim Ghali attempted to bully Mauritanian officials by warning their country “would be the first to be affected by any tension between Morocco and Polisario.”
The Amgala crossing forms part of King Mohammed VI’s Atlantic Initiative, designed to provide landlocked Sahel countries with access to the Atlantic Ocean.
In early 2025, Fatima Saida, president of the Amgala commune, labeled the project as “a logistical bridge” between Morocco, Mauritania, and the wider African continent, and “a cornerstone strategy in enabling landlocked African countries to access the Atlantic Ocean through the southern provinces.”
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