Sarah Zaaimi: Algeria at an impasse over colonial borders

The Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK) declared, on December 14 in Paris, the independence of the so-called Kabyle Republic from the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, with its exiled leader, Ferhat Mehenni, serving as its president. While largely symbolic, this new development rekindles the debate over the legitimacy of inherited French colonial borders in North Africa, thereby tightening the ring on Algeria.

This unprecedented unilateral move in modern Algerian history by the MAK shouldn’t be seen as an isolated attempt to challenge colonial legacies in the region, but as part of a broader trend among Algiers’ neighbors. Voices in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Mali are increasingly contesting Algeria’s oversized territories—boundaries that were drawn at the expense of their respective pre-1830 frontiers. However, Algeria still has a chance to escape regional isolation if it sets aside its grievances and works toward an economically integrated and open-border Maghreb Union.

As France reluctantly exited Algeria after a brutal independence war between 1954 and 1962, resulting in between one million and one and a half million fatalities, another gargantuan problem remained unresolved by the Evian Accords: It did not determine the fate of the large desert territories France had annexed from neighboring countries after its conquest of the Ottoman Regency of Algiers in 1830.

Voices in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mali are increasingly contesting Algeria’s oversized territories.

Kabylie draws the line

At the root of the dispute between the Kabyle people and the central government in Algeria is a historical conflict between the Amazigh indigenous people in the country’s coastal region, known in ancient maps as Barbaria, which has deep cultural, social, and political grievances. The Kabyle region enjoyed autonomy under the Roman Empire, the Muslim Khalifate, the Ottoman Regency of Algeria, and the French annexation of the country. The MAK advocates argue that they are ethnically and culturally distinct from the Arabized districts of Algeria. Contrary to Amazigh populations in Morocco and Tunisia, the Kabyle district hasn’t been assimilated entirely into the governance and linguistic structures of the newly formed Algerian state in 1962.

Ferhat Mehenni and his colleagues have condemned, for over five decades, what they perceive as marginalization and persecution by the central Algerian government and have led demonstrations known as the bloody Black Spring protests in 2001, which gave rise to the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie on June 30, 2001—the predecessors to the MAK. The movement has been openly calling for self-determination and a referendum since its establishment in 2013, in hopes of gaining greater autonomy.

The movement saw an opportunity to gain momentum among the international community following the recent UN resolution on Western Sahara, which favored the Moroccan autonomy plan in November 2025, with which they see synergies for their own self-determination aspirations. The MAK has also decided to leverage ongoing tensions between Algeria and France on one side, and Algeria and Morocco on the other, to advance its demands. Not all Amazigh people in Algeria necessarily share Mehenni’s ambitions, as thousands gathered this week in Bejaia in Kabylie, rejecting the declaration of independence and accusing France of “harboring enemies of its territorial unity.” However, legitimate allegations of human rights abuses and accusations of conspiracies continue to surround the Amazigh populations of Algeria, signaling a real malaise that the central government is failing to address while fervently defending the right of other people for self-determination in Western Sahara and the Palestinian Territories. For example, during the deadly wildfires that hit Algeria in 2021, locals were accused of conspiring with “Zionist Groups” to start the fires, leading to mass death sentences and torture claims in Tizi Ouzou.

The Eastern Sahara’s line of friction

Many analysts are familiar with the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Still, few know that Morocco has also maintained claims over what it calls “the Eastern Sahara,” in current-day Algeria, maintaining that it has historical and allegiance ties with tribes in the provinces Tindouf or Béchar. Following recent diplomatic gains at the United Nations over the Western Sahara dispute, and with international backing from the US and its former colonizers, France and Spain, several Moroccan voices have reaffirmed the need to review the colonial borders with Algiers. Available 19th-century historical archives and maps indicate that the Ottoman Regency of Algiers was limited to a coastal strip in the northern provinces of modern-day Algeria. The French expedition initially encompassed only the former Ottoman territories before expanding its control to the gas- and mineral-rich southern provinces. France formalized the Algerian-Moroccan borders through the Lalla Maghnia treaty of 18 March 1845, which amputated large sections from the historical Moroccan kingdom, leading to disputes that erupted into the Sand War in 1963 between the two neighbors over unresolved border legacies. Today, many Moroccan intellectuals and political figures have renewed the conversation about the Eastern Sahara, delving into French archival documents and displaying maps on social media that include large sections of western Algeria. While the Kingdom hasn’t engaged in any irredentist endeavors, unresolved colonial border disputes remain a somber shadow over the relationship between the two neighbors. They can only be resolved through well-intentioned diplomatic efforts that reconsider the anthropological, economic, and political realities on the ground.

READ: Martin Jay: After Greenland, Trump is pulling a new stunt in Iran

Ringed by disputes in Mali, Libya… and Tunisia

On its southern periphery, relations between the African neighbors have been slowly deteriorating since 2023, amid Bamako’s accusations that Algiers supports the Touareg separatists in northern Mali before completely staling earlier this year after the interception and downing of a Malian drone by the Algerian security forces. The Touareg, nomadic Amazigh communities indigenous to large territories in Algeria, Mali, Libya, and Niger, are also a forgotten chapter of North African colonialism that can pose serious threats to all countries involved. Recently, the various Touareg factions announced their unification under a single entity, the Azawad Liberation Front, and are actively advocating for secession. Given the transnational nature of the community, cross-border spillover into Algeria remains highly plausible if their demands are internationally recognized, especially given the alleged marginalization of the Touareg within Algeria. Similarly, tensions persist on the Libyan front as Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) declared parts of the Algeria–Libya frontier a military zone and some border posts in 2021, notably near the Ghat crossing. While there are no pending ambiguities about the colonial Libyan-Algerian borders thanks to the mutually accepted 1919 and 1935 Mussolini–Laval accords, some more serious security and geostrategic differences continue to divide the two neighbors.

 

Emboldened by public discourse on the Western and Eastern Sahara, and sensing a tightening ring around Algeria, prominent Tunisian voices, including former Tunisian ambassador Elyes Kasri, have also reignited the territorial dispute with Algeria dating to 1880 over the border marker Borne 233. Kasri revived a dormant claim to more than 20,000 km² of territory lost to Algeria during French colonial rule. Tunisian leaders such as Habib Bourguiba repeatedly claimed the disputed Borne, and the current President, Qais Said, continues to sit under a historical map of Carthage that includes large desert territories near Tataouine.

It is unlikely that a consequential border dispute will occur any time soon between Tunisia and Algeria, given the extremely precarious position of Tunis after it rejected the IMF agreement and became a de facto political and economic vassal state of Algiers. Under President Tabboune, Algeria consolidated its grip over its eastern neighbor with generous loans and energy handouts. He stated himself in 2023 that “Tunisia is a security extension of Algeria,” which was seen domestically as a sign of Algerian interventionism. Still, it is worth noting the shifting public discourse on inherited colonial peripheries in both Tunisia’s broadcast media and social media.

From isolation to integration

One thing remains clear: a fragmented Algeria is never beneficial for the prosperity and stability of North Africa and the Sahel. Colonial borders—no matter how absurd—are part of the current political reality in the Maghreb ,and challenging them based on historical and ethnic disputes can only further Balkanize the region, divert its development path, and drain its economic and human potential. French anticolonial philosopher Franz Fanon stated in his book “The Wretched of the Earth” that “Decolonization is truly the creation of new men… We must work out new concepts and try to set a new man afoot.”

Algeria is currently facing a delicate geopolitical challenge, surrounded by illusions of a distant colonial history. Instead of fueling endless ethnic-nationalist conflicts, Algeria and its neighbors should work to revive and develop an economically integrated, open-borders Maghreb Union that goes beyond narrow political interests — the only way to resolve the ongoing border disputes. Moroccan King Mohamed VI called for “brotherly dialogue” with Algeria and reaffirmed his country’s strong commitment to the Maghreb Arab Union in his speech following the adoption of UN Resolution 2797 on October 31st. Similarly, US and European mediation efforts led by Massad Boulos on the American side should foster stability and rapprochement rather than division and counterproductive rivalry. The Moroccan’s generous extended hand presents a unique opportunity to move beyond colonial legacies and realize Ahmed Ben Bella’s prophecy that the Maghreb will become “one body.”

 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Maghrebi.org. Sarah Zaaimi is a journalist and Senior Fellow of the North Africa Programme, Atlantic Council. You can follow her on X: @ZaaimiSarah.

If you wish to pitch an opinion piece, please send your article to opinion@maghrebi.org.