Morocco seeks to scuttle Algeria’s peace initiative in Mali!

According to the spokesman of the “Azawad” Movement Mohamed Mouloud, and after proper investigations, it appears that the Moroccan Makhzen has been using all low-down tricks to undermine the tireless and well-meaning efforts made by Algeria to resolve the crisis in Mali, as he put it.

As evidence of that, observers refer to the latest hostage-taking at the Radisson hotel of Bamako, where among the 174 people held inside the targeted hotel by the armed terrorists, there were six senior Algerian diplomats, who have been now released.

The Algerian diplomats were then in Bamako to prepare for a meeting which was due to take place on 1 December 2015 for the full implementation and follow-up of the peace and reconciliation agreement signed earlier this year in Algiers between the Malian government and the parties at issue in northern Mali, at Algeria’s goodwill initiative.

This agreement includes granting more powers to the leaders of Northern Mali and those of provincial areas in addition to fostering sustainable development in northern Mali where the local populations suffer from deprivation and poverty.

The Azawad movement’s spokesman said that the Moroccan authorities are trying to interfere in this peace process by inviting us to settle it at a Moroccan venue but we refused categorically.

“Because in addition to not having borders with Morocco itself, we firmly think that Algeria is better able to resolve the Malian crisis and to intervene militarily, if it wishes so, instead of dealing with other foreign countries like France”, he underscored.

In the same context, the spokesman announced that a meeting is planned to be held in the other mediator country namely, Mauritania, next week, with a view to speeding up the ongoing peace process and considering sending troops into northern Mali to fight terrorist groups there, lest they take root again in large swathes of the Sahel region.