Rabat – Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has said his country has no problem with Morocco despite multiple Morocco-bashing statements former and current senior Algerian officials have made in recent weeks.
Tebboune gave an interview with Al Jazeera in which he said that his country has “no problem with Morocco.”
“It is Morocco which has a problem with us,” he argued.
He claimed that Algeria has “good relations with Morocco and the borders were open despite the Western Sahara issue.”
Further in the interview, however, Tebboune contradicted himself by reiterating his country’s unwavering support for the Polisario Front, a separatist, militant group Morocco considers as an existential threat to its territorial integrity in its southern provinces.
“We do not accept a fait accompli whatever the circumstances,” Tebboune said, subtly referencing recent, pro-Morocco developments in Western Sahara and challenging Moroccan sovereignty over the region.
Since former US President Donald Trump recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in December 2020, the Algerian government has redoubled its efforts to promote Polisario’s independence claims and undermine Morocco’s efforts to defend its territorial integrity.
In April of this year, Algeria colluded with Spain to help Polisario leader Brahim Ghali receive medical care in a Spanish hospital.
The Algerian government helped Ghali to enter Spain with falsified documentation, notably an Algerian diplomatic passport under the name of Mohammed Ben Battouche. The Polisario chief entered Spain on April 18, where he received medical treatment for over a month before leaving last week to travel back to Algeria.
Upon Ghali’s return to Algeria, Tebboune visited him and reiterated his country’s commitment to “decolonization” and “truth” in Western Sahara.
Most recently, Tebboune smeared Morocco and openly attacked King Mohammed VI in an interview with French outlet Le Point.
Tebboune told Le Point, speaking of the US’ recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara: “How can you think of offering a monarch an entire territory, with all its population?”
He went on to downplay the US support for Morocco’s territorial integrity, saying that it “does not mean anything.”
“We cannot go back, verbally, on everything that was done by Washington to please a King,” he said in his interview with Le Point.
In the same interview, Tebboune also made it clear that Algeria is not planning to open borders with Morocco.
He claimed that his country cannot open the borders with someone “who attacks you daily.” But the statement does not reflect Morocco’s stance on diplomatic relations with Algeria. Rabat has repeatedly called for dialogue and political consultations for the two countries to resume diplomatic relations despite some of their lingering, profound divergences.
In his 2018 Green March speech, for example, King Mohammed VI urged Algeria to engage in an “open and frank dialogue” with Morocco.
The Moroccan King argued that the decades-long political stalemate and long-standing geopolitical rivalry between Rabat and Algiers does not benefit North Africa.
In response, Algerian officials turned a deaf ear to Morocco’s dialogue offers and instead launched several anti-Moroccan campaigns.
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