Moroccan Reactionary Diplomacy Disrupts Algerian Efforts in the Sahel

While Prime Minister Mohamed Nadhir Arbaoui was saying goodbye to his counterpart, Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Niger, Ali Mohamed Lamine Zein, at the international airport of Algiers “Houari Boumediene”, at the end of his official visit to Algeria, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs circulated what it called a joint statement with the Chadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the support of this poor African country for the so-called “Initiative for the access of the countries of the Sahel to the Atlantic Ocean”.
The visit of the Chadian official to the kingdom of the “Commander of the Faithful” was preceded by a remarkable movement in Algerian-Nigerian relations, embodied in the visit of the Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, to the State of Niger at the invitation of his counterpart, Maman Mustafa Barki Bako, to resume consultations on the projects of the Sonatrach company, which has promising investments in this country, as well as to discuss the Algerian-Nigerian gas pipeline project crossing the territory of Niger.
Following Mr. Arkab’s visit to Niamey, the Nigerien Prime Minister led an important delegation on a three-day official visit. This visit followed a period of coolness in relations between Algeria and Niger due to the internal situation in that country following the overthrow of the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. This is a fact that the Moroccan regime tried to exploit in order to drive a wedge in Algeria’s relations with the countries of the Sahel by proposing the “Atlantic Initiative”, which, according to observers, was stillborn because it was rejected by a key country such as the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, which did not respond to the invitations of the Moroccan King, Mohammed VI, to participate in its first meeting.
Faced with Algeria’s re-establishment of communications with Niger, which came at a very sensitive time in the face of the maneuvers and provocations of the Libyan retired general Khalifa Haftar, supported by parties described as hostile to Algeria, the Moroccan regime felt that the ground was being pulled out from under it in the Sahel, The Moroccan regime, driven by its role as a functional state, had bet on trying to play the role of filling the void in the region after the expulsion of the French presence by the military regimes that overthrew the servile regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
As a result, the Moroccan regime, as usual, activated the “reactionary diplomacy” for which it is famous, by inviting the Chadian government to receive the foreign minister of N’Djamena in the Alaouite kingdom, in a scenario dominated by the marketing dimension of its illusory projects, more than a working visit, unlike the visit that led the Nigerien prime minister to Algeria, leading an important delegation that included sovereignty ministers, including the minister of defense, Lieutenant General Salifou Modi.
The Moroccan regime fears that Algeria’s re-establishment of relations with the countries of the Sahel will undermine its efforts to spread its influence in this region, which it covered up with an initiative to allow the countries of the Sahel access to the Atlantic Ocean through the gate of the occupied Western Sahara, This initiative was strongly rejected by its neighbors, Algeria and the representatives of the Sahrawi people (Polisario), as well as by Mauritania, which remains the only outlet for the success of the Rabat initiative, but Nouakchott has ignored the repeated calls addressed to it by the Moroccan King, Mohammed VI, for almost a year.
Observers do not rule out the possibility that the Moroccan regime will try to counter Algeria’s efforts to bring stability to the Sahel region by besieging the maneuvers and adventures of the retired Libyan general Khalifa Haftar, who is paid by Arab, regional and international parties working to confuse the situation in the region, by trying to induce the Chadian authorities to adopt or at least go along with the thesis of aggravating the situation in the Sahel region.