This is how President Biden managed the crisis between Algeria and the Moroccan regime.

A report issued by the International Crisis Group warned of the risks of the U.S. administration’s bias in favor of the Moroccan regime in the Western Sahara issue. The report cited the role played by the outgoing president, Joe Biden’s administration, which downplayed the risks of escalation between Algeria and the Alaouite Kingdom by retracting a “tweet” from his predecessor, Donald Trump.

The report indicated that Algeria and Rabat were on the brink of war about four years ago due to the Moroccan regime’s decision to bring the Zionist entity into the Maghreb region, following the normalization of relations with it and the commencement of military and security agreements, which Algeria considered a serious threat to its national security.
According to the report by the International Crisis Group, published on Friday, November 29, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden inherited a volatile situation in the Maghreb region from his predecessor due to numerous issues caused by the Trump administration, including his famous tweet regarding the Sahrawi issue (supporting the alleged sovereignty of the Moroccan regime over Western Sahara, in exchange for the condition of normalizing the Alawite regime’s relations with the Zionist entity), which are the landmines that the current U.S. administration has recognized.
The report stated that “when President Joe Biden entered the White House in January 2021, his administration inherited from Donald Trump’s administration the recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.” Instead of dealing with this legacy (which would have strained relations with both Morocco and the Zionist entity), the Biden administration carefully recalibrated Washington’s stance to avoid referencing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The report discussed Biden’s failure to adhere to Donald Trump’s decision, stating that Washington did not open an American consulate in the city of Dakhla in the occupied Western Sahara.
The Biden administration also removed from its diplomatic vocabulary the reference to the autonomy plan as the “only basis” for resolving the conflict in Western Sahara, considering it merely a potential solution among the proposed solutions to the conflict.
The report commented on this stance, stating that it is a deliberate ambiguity aimed at appeasing Algeria and the Polisario Front, but without provoking Morocco by not following Trump’s decision, which he made in the few days leading up to his departure from the White House (about a month and ten days only).
The outgoing president’s flexibility in dealing with Algeria and the Sahrawi issue did not stop there; Washington went further by holding consultations with the Polisario Front in a unique precedent. The U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Joshua Harris, met with officials from the Sahrawi Republic in Tindouf and encouraged them to cooperate with the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura.
American officials also focused on re-establishing dialogue with Algeria, which was interrupted during the Trump administration.
The report indicates that American diplomatic engagement in supporting restraint between Algeria and the Moroccan regime has played a significant role in easing tensions between the two capitals since Algeria severed its diplomatic relations with Rabat. However, President Trump’s return to the White House has led many observers to question whether the United States will continue to attempt to play a role in de-escalating tensions between the two countries or if Washington will throw its weight behind the Moroccan regime.
European actors, the report says, also bear the responsibility of taking the lead in diplomacy, managing risk factors that increase the likelihood of conflict, and encouraging a return to the peace table to resolve the Western Sahara dispute, which will benefit Europeans, as any crisis in the North African region will cast its shadow on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in multiple ways.