Rabat – King Mohammed VI devoted a large section of his Throne Day speech today to recalling that Morocco is still extending a hand to Algeria to work together towards finding solutions to end the political stalemate that has long dictated the relationship between the two countries.
The King emphasized the need for unity to overcome challenges facing the Maghreb region, including those related to security threats and closed borders between Rabat and Algiers.
The Moroccan monarch stressed Morocco’s readiness to sincerely work together with Algeria “without conditions” for the development of bilateral ties.
Such renewed relations should be based on trust, dialogue, and good neighborliness, the King said.
“I am not satisfied with the current state of our relations, for it does not serve our peoples’ interests, nor is it acceptable to a great many countries,” he noted.
The sovereign said open borders between Morocco and Algeria should be the norm, emphasizing that their closing is “incompatible with a natural right and intrinsic legal principles.”
Algeria decided to close the borders with Morocco in 1994 after Morocco imposed visa regulations on Algerian visitors in the wake of a terrorist attack on the Atlas Asni hostel in Marrakech.
Morocco lifted the visa requirement in 2004, but the border has since remained closed.
King Mohammed VI’s call for dialogue with Algeria is the latest in a series of official peace and reconciliation offers by Morocco – both from the King himself and many senior Moroccan officials.
In the past three years at least, the default mood in Morocco’s policy-making circles is that the two “brotherly countries Algeria and Morocco – should transcend their political divergences and cooperate to realize the long-standing dream of Maghrebi unity.
In his speech tonight, King Mohammed VI recalled that he has been stressing the need for the reopening of borders between Algeria and Morocco since 2008.
The King emphasized that neither he nor the current and former Algerian presidents were responsible for the border closure.
“However, we are politically and morally responsible for its continuation – we are responsible before God, before history and before our citizens,” the King said, arguing that there is no reason to maintain borders closed between Morocco and its Algerian “twin.”
The monarch also rejected suggestions by some media and political circles that the reopening of borders would impact or “bring evil and problems” to Algeria or Morocco.
“This is simply not true. No one can believe such claims, especially in this age of communication and modern technology. The closing of the border does not stop communication between the two peoples; rather, it only contributes to the closure of minds, which are swayed by the false stories spread by some media outlets, namely that Moroccans are afflicted by poverty and that they live on smuggling and drugs,” the King said.
He emphasized that Morocco hosts an Algerian diaspora community and welcomes Algerian tourists who know that what is promoted online is far from the truth of everyday reality in Morocco.
The speech is not meant to lecture or blame anyone, but rather as a reminder that Algeria and Morocco are brothers whose relations were impacted by an intruding entity, the King said, referencing the separatist Polisario Front.
Algeria has supported Polisario’s independence claims for the past four decades. This support includes financing, training, and arming the Polisario Front.
In what read like a direct response to some Algerian officials’ unrelenting claims that Morocco is looking to “destabilize Algeria,” King Mohammed reassured all Algerians that they will always have Morocco’s back and that Rabat will never “cause any evil or problem” to its “twin.”
“Nor will my country put you in peril or under threat. That is because what affects you affects us, and what befalls you harms us,” the King said.
He also recalled that the stability of Algeria is inseparable from Morocco’s security and stability.
“What affects Morocco will also affect Algeria, for the two countries are like one and the same body. This is because Morocco and Algeria are both suffering from the problems of migration, smuggling, drugs and human trafficking,” the King said.
Instead of fighting against each other, he argued, Morocco and Algeria would do better to work together to face their common enemies, including human trafficking and terrorist networks. “Should we work together to combat them, we would surely manage to reduce their activities and dry up their sources,” he said.
The King concluded his dialogue offer by calling on Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune to work with Morocco to tackle challenges that hamper both countries’ development in order to promote brotherly relations between the peoples of Morocco and Algeria.
But for all the King’s insistence on moral and historical responsibility, as well as the many shared values and interests binding Algerians and Moroccans, it remains to be seen whether Algeria, which has consistently ignored past calls for dialogue and reconciliation, will this time positively react to Morocco’s offer to open dialogue and open a new page in the two countries relations.
