Moroccan minister recognizes the damage incurred by Algerian sanctions

After more than three years of sanctions imposed by Algeria on the Moroccan regime, following the announcement of normalizing relations with the Zionist entity and targeting Algerian interests, the repercussions have begun to leak out about the damage to the Moroccan economic fabric, according to a minister in the government of Aziz Akhannouch.

In a video excerpt circulating on social media networks “YouTube”, the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development in the current Moroccan government, Leila Rachel Ben Ali, admits the extent of the suffering caused by Algerian sanctions on the energy front, represented by the suspension of the Maghreb-European gas pipeline, which used to transport Algerian gas to Spain, passing through Moroccan soil, and which provided the Alawite regime with free amounts of gas, as well as millions of dollars in fees for penetrating the pipeline to Moroccan soil.

The Moroccan minister says in the video: “Whether natural gas, energy, meat or tomatoes, at the end of the day the impact on the population or the economic fabric is tangible, we see it directly, when gas is cut off from a factory and about 3,000 workers are laid off, the impact is very tangible.” There is no indication of the date of this video, but it is by Moroccan energy transition minister Leila Rachel Benali, who is well known for the kissing incident with Australian businessman Andrew Forrest.

Leila Rachel Benali (!!!!), as she is identified in Wikipedia, is understood to be talking about the repercussions of the Algerian authorities’ decision to suspend the Maghreb-European gas pipeline in November 2021, which was followed by the severance of bilateral relations by Algeria on August 24, 2021.

However, the Moroccan minister, who survived the famous kiss scandal and continued her work in Aziz Akhannouch’s government as if nothing had happened, spoke about a fraction of the losses incurred by the Moroccan regime due to the Algerian sanctions, as she spoke about a factory that laid off about three thousand workers, but did not talk about the stoppage of two power plants in the east of the kingdom near the place where the gas pipeline passes, the “Tahdart” and “Beni Mazhar” plants, which were powered by gas coming from Algeria through the stopped pipeline.

Despite the Alaouite regime’s absolute cover-up of the losses incurred by the Moroccan economy due to the sanctions, in order not to be used against it by Algeria, this did not prevent the leakage of facts, which were revealed by a previous report prepared by a platform specialized in the energy file, indicating the falsity of the measures claimed by the government of Aziz Akhannouch to have taken in anticipation of Algeria’s decision to suspend the Maghreb-European pipeline.

The report revealed that the Tahdart power plant, located near the city of Tangier, about 260 kilometers from the Moroccan capital Rabat, stopped generating electricity for about eight months due to a lack of gas, although this plant was inaugurated in 2005, with investments estimated at $311 million.
The plant, which was inaugurated in 2005 with an estimated investment of $311 million and a production capacity of 400 megawatts, is controlled by two foreign companies, namely the Spanish company Endesa with 32 percent and the German company Siemens Energy with 20 percent, while the remaining percentage is controlled by the local government.

The “Tahdart” plant returned to activity only in July 2022, after more than eight months of suspension, after the Moroccan government signed a 12-year deal with Shell to import about 500 million cubic meters of liquefied gas annually to ensure the continued operation of the “Tahdart” and “Beni Mutahar” plants, where the Moroccan government buys liquefied gas, then converts it into natural gas in Spanish vehicles, before it is shipped in a reverse direction through the Maghreb-European gas pipeline, starting from Spain.

In addition to all this, Moroccan civil aviation is prohibited from passing through Algerian airspace, a decision that caused huge losses for Royal Air Maroc, which had to change the movement of its fleet to longer distances due to the vastness of Algeria, which cost it huge losses, which the Moroccan regime is trying to cover up.