Morocco and Algeria have been rivals for decades since the end of the Spanish and French protectorates in Morocco (1956) and the independence of Algeria between 1954-1962. The first, Morocco, a parliamentary monarchy that has resolved its fit with rising Islam through the political-religious figure of King Hasan. The second, Algeria, a republic of socialist origin that has been veering towards a nationalism with pan-Islamic features with a military caste allergic to elections.
On 24 August 2021 Algeria announced the break of diplomatic relations with Morocco, its neighbor and rival in the Maghreb, however, it is to be considered as a more symbolic than real movement, since bilateral relations between them have been broken for decades «de facto» (Lazkanoiturburu, 2021).
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were previously interrupted for the first time, when on 7 March 1976 Rabat suspended them following the recognition by Algeria of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), self-proclaimed by the independentists of the Polisario Front. In addition, the land borders of the two neighbors have been closed since 1994, a clear sign of the rivalry between the two countries.
In this context, the conflict over Western Sahara is one of the major hotbeds of tension between Rabat and Algiers, the latter being the strongest support of the Polisario Front since King Hasan II of Morocco in 1975 took advantage of the decline of the Franco dictatorship to occupy the former rich Spanish colony. In addition to political support for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and financial and military aid to the Frente Polisario during the war (1975-1991), Algeria has for more than 46 years been hosting in its western desert the thousands of Saharan refugees who fled during the “Green March”. The negotiations between the two countries broke down in 2018, the year in which Morocco, with the implicit support of the Trump administration, announced that Saharan independence was no longer an option and that it agreed at best to discuss the possibility of offering what it called broad autonomy. The recent normalization of Morocco’s relations with Israel, under Trump’s presidency, in exchange of the US recognition of Moroccan «sovereignty» over the Sahara, has revived tensions with Algeria, a fervent defender of the Palestinian cause. Algeria did not hide its unease at the statements made by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Yaïr Lapid, who, during his recent visit to Morocco, expressed concern about the «Algiers’ role in the region, its rapprochement with Iran and its campaign against Israel’s admission as an observer of the African Union». The Algerian Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, denounced the fact that, in the framework of regional security, the Moroccan authorities introduced a foreign military power (Israel) into the Maghreb region and incited its representatives (Lapid) to show an aggressive attitude towards a neighboring country constitutes a serious and irresponsible act». However, the new Biden administration has not only frozen the presidential order by which the US recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony but seems to prioritize the recovery of dialogue through the UN.
The conflict in the Western Sahara has also been revived after the violation of the UN cease-fire of 1991 on 12 November 2020 by Morocco that attacked civilians peacefully protesting in front of the illegal Guerguerat breach. Morocco, also, opened three new breaches within the Moroccan military wall in flagrant violation of the Military Agreement No. 1 signed between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco under the auspices of the United Nations, in implementation of Security Council Resolution 690 of 1991, which provides for the organization of the referendum of self-determination for the Sahrawi people. Subsequently, Mr. Brahim Ghali, the President of the Sahrawi Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, issued a presidential decree on November 13, 2020, declaring the end of the commitment to the ceasefire, with the support of Algeria (Saada, 2021)
However, according to the Algerian Government, the detonator of the rupture was the repeated “hostile acts” committed by Morocco in recent months. Ramtane Lamamra, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, explained the reasons for this decision by saying that “history had shown that the Kingdom of Morocco has never ceased to carry out hostile actions against Algeria”. These refer to the alleged support of the Alawite Kingdom for the political formations Rachad and MAK, both classified by Algiers as “terrorist organizations”, the former is of a marked Islamist tendency and the another defends the independence cause of Kabylia. On July 14, 2021, Morocco, through its representation at the United Nations, formally supported a movement working for the division of Algeria, in this case the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia ( MAK). Subsequently, the Algerian High Security Council accused Morocco of having provided “aid and support” to these two outlawed Algerian organizations, MAK and Rachad, presented as responsible for the latest fires which ravaged certain regions of the country, and indicated that all this “required review relations” with Morocco.
At the same time, the alleged use by Morocco of the Israeli spy program Pegasus against 6,000 targets of the Algerian administration, mostly political and military, as well as the race to become the hegemonic power of the region have distanced their agendas to the fullest.
The consequences of the end of diplomatic relations between the two countries are still to be seen. However, the first collateral victim of the recent escalation of tension between Rabat and Algiers is the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline (GME), which distributes Algerian natural gas to Spain through Moroccan territory. Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab announced on Thursday that from autumn his government will channel all the gas it exports to Europe through the Medgaz pipeline, which directly links Spain and Algeria across the Alboran Sea. The assertion implies its intention not to renew the three-way agreement enabling the GME pipeline, a pact that expires at the end of October 2021.
All in all, the historic rivalry between Morocco and Algeria has prevented economic and political integration between the two Maghreb neighbors and the escalation of tensions which reached the point of breaking diplomatic relation is a step further in that direction.
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By Blanca Prat: The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
