The Makhzen Regime’s Failure To Disturb Algeria’s Arab League Summit

It became likely that the leaks directed by the magazine “Jeune Afrique”, the media arm of the Makhzen regime, which spoke about the participation of the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, in the Arab League summit in Algeria, was nothing but a manoeuvre aimed at confusing the Algerian authorities that were preparing well for this summit.

After the Moroccan regime marketed its project through its various media branches, it moved to search for justifications for the absence of its monarch from the summit, in a scenario that had no goal but to continue on the path of manoeuvring and confusion, hours before the start of the summit’s works, but the mission this time was in an official capacity, and in the words of his foreign minister, Nasser Bourita, who announced the king’s absence.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Makhzen, and since he set foot in Algeria, has spared no effort but to provoke the host country, beginning by raising the issue of protocol at the airport, claiming that he was not received by his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra, at the airport, then raising the issue of the map, before making inappropriate statements that do not respect diplomatic norm from Algerian territory to foreign media, and finally accusing Algeria of not providing the conditions set by the king of the Makhzen to participate in the summit.

Everything that Bourita had done in the few hours preceding the convening of the summit was only a prelude to what was to come. At the time when he was supposed to be with the Arab foreign ministers in their meeting to prepare the document to be placed on the summit table of presidents and kings, he was wandering in the corridors and squares in search of weaving crises, however, the Algerian side maintained its calm, avoiding even responding to these provocations to ensure the success of the summit and to spare it the inconveniences, which could poison the atmosphere or explode the summit in the worst case.

Algerians, Arabs and world public opinion stood on provocations by the Makhzen regime and its head of delegation in Algeria, and this was only a drop in the sea, as what was revealed in the telegram, which was reported by the official Algerian news agency, is enough to refute all the manoeuvres of the Moroccan regime, whose delegation came to Algeria with one goal, which is to thwart the summit, but it returned to disappointment after Algeria’s resounding success to hold the Arab Summit at all levels.

It turned out that the Makhzen regime, according to what was stated in the official Algerian news agency telegram, requested the Algerian authorities to allocate a hall for the flight and landing of at least ten planes dedicated to transporting the king, the crown prince and the rest of the delegation that was going to accompany the king to Algeria, and he knows the sensitivity of conflicts between the two countries, between which there has been no diplomatic representation for more than a year, and Algerian airspace is closed to Moroccan military and civil aircraft.

Bourita, who spoke about an invitation from his King, Mohammed VI, to President Tebboune to visit Morocco, talked about arrangements to visit the Moroccan monarch, but he did not reveal the nature of those arrangements until he gets an answer, which confirms once again that the presence of the representative of the Moroccan regime in Algeria had goals other than those for the rest of the Arab delegations.

The master of evidence for the aforementioned details is what was stated by the Moroccan ambassador to Egypt and its permanent representative to the League of Arab States, Ahmed Tazi, in an interview with the Moroccan newspaper, Hespress, who confirmed that the participation of the Moroccan delegation had a decisive role in several decisions, and it turns out that Algeria has a role in those decisions.

The Moroccan official spoke about the Arab League reform project that Algeria put on the agenda, as well as the issue of internationally recognized borders, which indicates that the strategy of the Moroccan delegation that participated in the Algiers summit was based on the provocation of outside the meeting hall, and on confusion from inside the hall as well.

Arab leaders on Wednesday concluded the 31st summit of the largest annual Arab conference after seeking to bridge the gap on several divisive issues in the Middle East and Africa. The first Arab League gathering in three years took place against the backdrop of rising inflation, food and energy shortages, drought and the soaring cost of living across the region.

The kings, emirs, presidents and prime ministers discussed several thorny issues during a two-day gathering in the capital Algiers. They focused on the food and energy crises aggravated by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The conflict has had devastating consequences for Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia, among other Arab countries struggling to import enough wheat and fuel to satisfy their populations.

Arab leaders acknowledged the dire consequences of the war for their nations and one after another called for a “collective Arab action” to face common challenges. Those include food and energy shortages and the effects of climate change on their societies.

The Arab League summit provided an opportunity for Algeria to showcase its leadership in the Arab world. Algeria is a major oil and gas producer and is perceived by European nations as a key supplier amid the global energy crisis that stems from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Algeria, along with other Arab countries, remains fiercely opposed to the series of normalizations by some Arab countries with the zionists. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune urged league members to reaffirm their support for the Palestinians in their conflict with the zionist entity.

“Our main and first cause, the mother of all causes, the Palestinian issue, will be at the heart of our concerns and our main priority,” Tebboune said in his opening speech Tuesday. He blasted the zionist entity for its “continued occupation” of Palestinian territories and “expanding its illegal settlements.”

Last month, Algeria hosted talks in a bid to end the Palestinian political divide and reconcile the Palestinian parties.

The Arab summit took place at a time of heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank, where the Zionist military has conducted nightly arrest raids in searches for Palestinian militants. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in recent months, including stone-throwing teenagers and people uninvolved in violence.

The 31st Arab League Summit concluded on Wednesday 2 November 2022 with the adoption of the Algiers Declaration which calls for joint action to tackle the regional and global challenges.

The declaration warned of the risks brought by changing international situation posed to Arab national security and stability, stressing the importance of unifying efforts to preserve Arab common interests.

It also called for cooperation in ensuring food and energy security, confronting climate change, as well as ending the crises in some Arab countries.

According to the declaration, the Arab leaders reiterated their full support for the establishment of an independent state of Palestine based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, while urging the Zionist entity to halt its attacks against Palestinians and end its blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Referring to the Libya issue, the Arab leaders vowed to make all efforts to end the crisis through an inter-Libyan process following United Nations resolutions and concerning Libya’s unity, stability, and sovereignty.

The declaration suggested that Arab states should play a key role in settling the Syrian crisis while addressing the country’s political, security, humanitarian, and economic challenges.

The Arab leaders further expressed support for the incumbent government in Yemen and commitment to extending the truce.

The Arab leaders also agreed to work on establishing a zone free of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East as part of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The two-day summit was the first meeting of the regional body since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 22-member Arab League last held its summit in 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.