Morocco Disturbed By Algeria’s Diplomatic Efforts In Mali And Libya

In an interview given by the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Cooperation, Nasser Bourita, to the Italian newspaper “La Republica”, he said that during the consultations that took place in the city of Bouznika, he called on Libyans to “not waste their energy in finding other mediators” to pursue the reconciliation dialogue.

The Moroccan official’s statement seems normal were it not for the coincidence and Moroccan media reports close to the royal palace, through which they attacked Algeria, based on some positions expressed by high officials in the state regarding the situation in Mali, and Algeria’s willingness to receive the Libyan parties at issue to search for solutions to the crisis in the eastern neighbor country.

Although the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Makhzen did not name who was intended by this statement, many observers and what the Moroccan press wrote a few days ago and until Monday, read Bourita’s words that it was directed to Algeria, given its repeated calls for the crisis parties in Libya to a meeting around the dialogue table in Algeria.

Moroccan media considered the recent statement issued by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in which he said that “the only solution to the Libyan crisis lies in legislative elections in which all the Libyan people must participate”, as a criticism of the outcomes of the dialogue sessions between Libyans in the Moroccan city of Bouznika, despite this Algerian position, as It was announced at the beginning of this year, immediately after the Berlin conference, and before the Libyans met in Bouznika, Morocco.

Among the issues that also bothered the Makhzen system, was President Tebboune’s statement in which he said: “There is no country in the world that knows Mali like Algeria, due to the neighborhood that we have, and because Algeria has always been present in Mali before anyone heard of the existence of the Mali state”.

But those ill-advised circles claimed, that this statement was directed against Algeria’s Western neighbor.

President Tebboune castigated unidentified parties when he said that “a country that does not share borders with Mali has dwarfed the Algerian role after the agreement that was signed in Algiers in the past regarding the reintegration of northern Mali with its south,” an accord which was sponsored and blessed by the United Nations.

Everyone remembers how the Moroccan Makhzen did not digest Algeria’s invitation to participate in the Berlin conference on the Libyan crisis at the beginning of this year, and its exclusion from that summit, where the Makhzen hastened to circulate a statement in which it attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and defended its presence in that get-together, under the pretext that it had hosted the Skhirat conference .

Moroccan annoyance hides a complex called Western Sahara, and for this reason, the Makhzen attempts to disrupt the diplomatic efforts undertaken by Algeria, especially in both the neighboring countries, Mali and Libya especially after the visit that led Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum to Mali after last August’s military coup that ousted former President Ibrahim Abubakar Keita, and the Makhzen’s Foreign Minister also visited Bamako, in a diplomatic race, even though Morocco does not have borders with Mali.