US sends delegation to Morocco-Mauritania border
The American mission, composed of diplomats, an economic advisor and a military security officer, travelled to the El Guergarate border post, located between Morocco and Mauritania.
US-Moroccan security ties look set to deepen further as a US delegation visited a Moroccan-Mauritanian border post, according to the pro-Moroccan North Africa Post and agencies on June 27th.
The American mission, composed of diplomats, an economic advisor and a military security officer, travelled to the El Guerguerat border post, located between Morocco and Mauritania.
According to a US Embassy press release, the trip to the Southernmost tip of the Moroccan Sahara underscores “our shared commitment to regional security and stronger bilateral cooperation.”
El Guerguerat is currently the only land crossing connecting Morocco to Mauritania and West Africa; the border post is situated in the Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.
Hundreds of trucks cross the border port daily, carrying Moroccan-manufactured goods to countries including Mauritania, Senegal and Mali.
Reportedly, the visit also warns the Algerian-backed Polisario Front against attempts to undermine Morocco’s security and stability.
Polisario militants have previously tried to disrupt trade flows between Morocco and West Africa at the El Guerguerat border, but have failed.
Algeria has rejected the Moroccan Autonomy Plan to grant the Western Sahara limited self-government under Moroccan sovereignty; the plan is widely perceived as a solution to a conflict that has persisted since Spanish colonial rule ended in 1975.
The US has repeatedly urged the Polisario Front to accept Moroccan sovereignty and rejected the Polisario’s calls for an independence referendum.
Algeria’s Tindouf camps are controlled by Polisario militants and situated near the Mauritanian border; concerns about border incursions led Mauritania to discuss security cooperation with Morocco in April.
Similarly, the Tindouf camps have allegedly hosted Hezbollah, Tuareg and Kurdish militants; concerns about the camps becoming an extremist hub led Morocco to join an EU aid monitoring mechanism in January.
The US is one of 130 nations to support Moroccan sovereignty, which it first recognised in 2020, the same year that the US-brokered Abraham Accords were signed, normalising relations between Israel and Arab nations, including Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE.
Maghrebi attempted to contact Duke Buchan III, the US Ambassador to Morocco, for comment on the US delegation’s visit to El Guerguerat, but was unable to find contact details at the time of publication.
North Africa Post and agencies, Maghrebi.org
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