European Council: “It’s Difficult To Circumvent Algeria’s Influence In Africa And In The Sahel”

The European Council for Foreign Relations, regarded as the European “think tank”, said Algeria’s influence is unlikely to be overcome easily in Africa, especially in the Sahel region, and warned that Algeria would turn against France and Spain if their “anti-Algeria policy” extends from the Western Sahara issue to other areas “, as it put it.
The European Council for Foreign Relations, which is based in seven European cities, published a research study on the European relations with Algeria and Morocco under the title “The enemy brothers: the European balance between Morocco and Algeria.”
It referred to the adverse positions expressed by Paris and Madrid on the issue of Western Sahara, “European players must be careful about how to work with Morocco and Algeria in Africa. The European actors, especially France and Spain, are already less neutral on the issue of Western Sahara, especially after their support for the 2007 so-called “autonomy plan” advocated by the Moroccan authorities, stressing that if these concepts extend to other areas of cooperation in Africa, Europe risks alienating Algeria.”
“Given the history of Algerian participation in the continent and its continuing importance in combating terrorism and shoring up security, it is unlikely that Algeria’s influence will be easily circumvented”, it noted.
“This applies particularly to the Sahel region, and thereby the European parties should continue to be cautious in balancing the close cooperation and common interests with Morocco, on the one hand, with a more difficult relationship, but it may be very useful with Algeria on the other hand as Algeria’s long borders with the Sahel make it extremely important not to Algeria and Morocco . adding that Algeria is likely to continue to play an important role in Africa in the future, and therefore the EU and its member states should continue to position themselves as mutually beneficial partners and interlocutors,” it underlined.
The document addressed in part Algeria’s position on the Sahel G5 force, which France has engineered to fight terrorism, as it claimed, including Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad.
Algeria has declined to be involved in this force. “Algeria is not prepared to cooperate in the Sahel region on European terms, owing to rather ineffective regional coordination mechanisms”.
Algeria remains the most important security partner in the region, while maintaining strong security ties with the regional countries, stated PM Ahmed Ouyahia at the European Union-African Union summit held in Abidjan in November, stressing by the same token that Algeria also provided substantial funds to support the security efforts of its neighbors in the Sahel and Libya.