Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya meet to discuss Arab Maghreb union
As relations between Algeria and Morocco continue to deteriorate, three states of the Arab Maghreb coalition met sans Morocco, according to AFP.
Moroccan media declared suspicions of Algeria forming a “Maghreb alliance” against Morocco on the week of 15th April, when the date for the “first advisory meeting” of the coalition in Tunisia was announced.
However, Algerian President, Abdelmajid Tebboune stated at the beginning of April that the creation of the Maghreb Union was “not directed against any other state” and that their “Neighbour in the west”, Morocco was welcome to join the coalition.
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The union aims to go beyond the countries political issues and “include all areas of economic and social developments for peoples of the three countries,” Tunisia’s foreign minister, Nabil Ammar stated.
Both Moroccan and Mauritanian leaders were absent from the coalition’s meeting.
Algerian diplomacy chief, Ahmed Attaf defended the initiative saying it would fill the void left by the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) that was founded in 1989 in Morocco.
The UMA was created with similar aims in mind, to bring the region together and discuss their shared political and economic interest.
However, the growing tensions, particularly related to the sovereignty of Western Sahara, between Morocco and Algeria led to the collapse of the union.
Algeria and Morocco cut diplomatic ties in 2021 after Morocco commenced normalisation ties with Israel.
The Abraham Accords are partially responsible for the demise of the Algeria-Morocco relations as the US prompted Morocco to make ties with Israel after promising that the US would recognise Morocco as the true sovereign of Western Sahara.
Morocco’s ties with Tunisia are also in crisis since the invitation of a separatist leader to the eighth Tokyo International Conference of African Development, which was held in Tunis in 2022, The National reported. Morocco rendered the move a “stab in the back” from Tunisia and withdrew the Moroccan ambassador from Tunis.
The advisory meeting on 22nd April, attended by Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria pointed out the “danger of foreign interference in the Sahel and the Sahara desert” – an issue that Algeria has identified before.
AFP/The National
