Messahel: “The Claim That Western Sahara Issue Disrupted Arab Maghreb Union Is Wrong”

Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Abdelkader Messahel, refused to link the paralysis besetting the Arab Maghreb Union to the issue of Western Sahara and stressed that Algeria is open to all Maghreb countries while accusing some foreign powers of obstructing the settlement of the protracted Libyan crisis, which has entered its seventh year.

Algeria is the only country that has borders with all the Arab Maghreb countries, he recalled. 

Regarding the “stalemate” that has gripped for many years now the Arab Maghreb Union, Mr. Messahel said in an interview with “Russia Today”: “The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) is a case in point and the cause of its lingering logjam has never been the Western Sahara issue, despite the repeated allegations to the contrary by the Rabat authorities”.

He also pointed out that Algeria, during its chairmanship of the Arab Maghreb Union in 2001, proposed the establishment of a Maghreb economy, away from political affairs.

On the Libyan file and the explosive crisis prevailing there, the head of the Algerian diplomacy accused some international  quarters without naming them of obfuscating the Libya situation and prolonging the life of the crisis that has now entered its seventh year. 

“In Libya, there are well-meaning men and women who have the means to solve the ongoing crisis. The nagging problem is foreign interference and agendas”, he stated.

 “In the absence of such an adverse foreign interference, the solution to the Libyan crisis could be thrashed out in a few months”, Mr Messahel underscored.

He further pointed to the hovering danger posed by the return of “Daesh” elements from the Middle East to North Africa after the severe blows that the nefarious terrorist organization sustained in the previous period in both Syria and Iraq. 

He also spoke about the close link between the plagues of terrorism, drug smuggling, weapons smuggling and human trafficking.

Far from the continent, Mr. Messahel praised the excellent relations between Algeria and Moscow in various fields of endeavor, and revealed the existence of a number of Algerian executives now receiving training in the nuclear field in Russia.