Algeria-Morocco: The Moroccan Act Provoking or Justifying War with Algeria.

[CEZAYIRLI]

Algérie-Maroc : le casus belli qui a causé la rupture

Pour Abdelaziz Rahabi, ex-ministre et ancien diplomate, c’est le soutien apporté par le Maroc à un projet de partition de l’Algérie qui a constitué la goutte de trop.

www.tsa-algerie.com

Algeria-Morocco: The Moroccan Act Provoking or Justifying War with Algeria.

(Algeria Armed Forces 2019)

(TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH)

Politics By: Ali Idir Aug 29, 2021 at 9:19 PM
Much has been read about the severance of diplomatic relations between Algeria and Morocco, officially announced Tuesday August 24 by Algiers.

This extreme decision followed several "hostile acts" by the Moroccan authorities - at least three - since mid-July, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, who announced the news of the rupture on Tuesday.

First there was the note from the kingdom's ambassador to the UN, formally supporting "the self-determination of the valiant Kabyle people in Algeria", followed by the disclosure of the spy case, Pegasus, which essentially targeted Algerian citizens and senior officials, and finally Morocco's willingness to involve Israel in its disputes with Algeria. Which of these three acts constituted a casus belli in the eyes of Algiers and caused the breakdown of relations between the two neighbors?

For Abdelaziz Rahabi, ex-minister and former Algerian ambassador to Madrid, it was Morocco's support for a partition project for Algeria that was the last straw, an act on which it was not. not possible to pass the sponge.

On July 14, on the occasion of a summit of the Non-aligned movement, the Moroccan ambassador in New York gave the representatives of the member countries of the movement a note in which he spoke in favor of the self-determination of Kabylia, a region inside Algeria. Algeria immediately condemned a "dangerous drift", recalled its ambassador to Rabat and demanded an explanation.

The independence of Kabylia is advocated by the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), an organization based mainly abroad and classified as "terrorist" by the Algerian authorities in May 2021. MAK is accused of being behind the fires which set ablaze several regions of the country this summer, as well as the lynching to death of the young Djamel Bensmail, on August 11 in Larbaâ Nath Irathen (w. Tizi-Ouzou).

“The break-up should have occurred on the same day the Moroccan Ambassador handed in his Verbal Note to the UN asking for Algeria's partition, which is an extremely serious act. The Algerian authorities have given time to their Moroccan regime to explain themselves and also not to appear hasty ", explains Mr. Rahabi in an interview with TSA.

Between the act of Moroccan Ambassador Omar Hilale at the UN Algeria's announcement of the diplomatic split, 40 days have passed. In the meantime, there were two speeches by King Mohamed VI, on July 31 for the feast of the throne and on August 20 on the occasion of the commemoration of the revolution of the king and the people, but no response was given to Algiers' request. On the contrary, he demanded the reopening of the borders between the two, which have been closed since August 1994.

On the contrary, two other "hostile acts" followed in the meantime, the Pegasus affair and statements by the head of Israeli diplomacy from Moroccan territory.

"This is history repeating itself"
Two acts which further aggravated the situation but which do not constitute a casus belli.

“Algeria was forced to break up and was given no choice, especially with the note from the Moroccan ambassador to the UN. Above all, she was very unhappy with Morocco’s lack of explanation, ”added Rahabi.

The Moroccan response came, but very late, that is, after the officialization of the rupture. On Thursday August 26, Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Din El Otmani explained that the content of Omar Hilale's note "was not a political position (of Morocco), but a dialectical reaction".

This verbal note "commits the king and all institutions of the Moroccan state," replied Amar Belani, former Algerian ambassador to Brussels, accusing El Otmani of "trying to deceive everyone by making false statements."

Even if it is called "note verbale" in diplomatic jargon, it is in fact a written document which therefore binds the Moroccan state, confirms diplomat Abdelaziz Rahabi.

For him, it is "history repeating itself". In 1994, Algeria closed the borders between the two countries after the imposition of visas on Algerian nationals and serious Moroccan accusations in the aftermath of an attack in Marrakech.

Before this episode, there was the Moroccan retreat on its commitments concerning the resolution of the Sahrawi question and the construction of the Maghreb.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, returned at length, during the press conference following the announcement of the rupture, on the many unfriendly acts of Morocco vis-à-vis Algeria since independence.

In an interview with APS last Thursday, Abdelaziz Rahabi wondered whether there was not in this escalation "unconditional or benevolent support from the allied countries of Morocco". "This question arises and is asked of the advisability of re-examining with serenity, and taking into account our interests, all of our relations with these countries," he said.

Another source argues that if there is a "review" of relations, it could concern France, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Either way, attempts at mediation by Saudi Arabia, among others, are unlikely to be successful. “It's still premature. We do not conduct mediation the day after a break-up, ”explains Rahabi.

Saudi Arabia knew that relations between Algeria and Morocco had reached the point of no return, but it did not use its weight to avoid the rupture, as it did in the past. In fact, the new and young leaders of the Gulf countries do not have the same perception of Algeria as their elders who knew the aura and the scope of the Algerian revolution.

In addition, the Gulf countries now have political agendas in North Africa in general, which was not the case in the 80s or 90s. The United Arab Emirates, for example, play a key role in the crisis in Libya, supporting Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and became supporters of normalization with Israel.

It would take preconditions and calming gestures from both countries to open the door to possible mediation. Algeria and Morocco, whose diplomatic relations were almost non-existent before August 24, are still at loggerheads.