Morocco and Algeria in UN spat as Sahara dispute resurfaces

Morocco and Algeria exchanged sharp remarks at the UN General Assembly, as long-standing tensions over Western Sahara once again came to the fore.

According to pro-Rabat news outlet Yabiladi on September 30^th, diplomatic rhetoric between Morocco and Algeria resurfaced sharply. After Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf raised the Sahara issue, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Omar Hilale, responded to “provide some clarifications and, above all, set the record straight.”

After Algeria’s Foreign Minister pointed out that the Western Sahara issue has been on the UN’s agenda “for more than six decades,” Hilale stressed that Morocco were the ones who placed the Sahara issue on the UN’s decolonisation list.

Hilale noted how the Moroccan city of Tangier hosted the first session held outside of New York by the UN’s Special Committee on Decolonisation (C24). That meeting, he said, preceded Algeria’s independence and the creation of the Polisario Front.

Morocco’s UN representative also emphasised that the UN Security Council now treats the Sahara “not as a decolonisation matter, but as an issue of peace and security.” After the Algerian Foreign Minister posed many questions to Morocco, Hilale then questioned their interest in the issue.

“On what grounds does Algeria, which claims not to be a party, pose questions, conditions, and principles for resolving this dispute?” Hilale asked.

With an apparent touch of irony, the Moroccan ambassador then welcomed Algeria’s declarations, urging that they translate into active participation in a revived political process.

In closing, Hilale recalled King Mohammed VI’s outstretched hand of dialogue to Algeria in his Throne Day speech on July 29^th, aimed at a consensual resolution “with no winner or loser.” To date, Algeria has reportedly made no formal response.

The exchange between the two nations reflects a wider regional deadlock that has endured for decades. As Maghrebi reported, Morocco and Algeria remain in a geopolitical standoff, defined by the Western Sahara issue and their competing regional roles. Diplomatic relations were suspended in 2021, and their border has been closed since 1994.

Yabiladi, Maghrebi.org