Is the Algerian regime Morocco’s enemy?
The context in which the Algerian presidency spokesman made hostile comments about the Moroccan diplomacy raises questions as to the real motives from such allegations at a time his country is facing one of the worst economic crises in its short history and braces for social upheaval due to inability to maintain spending on subsidies and social services.
The Spokesman for the Algerian Presidency has accused the Moroccan consul in Oran of being an agent of his country’s intelligence services without offering any kind of proof.
Moroccan foreign minister described such accusations as “ridiculous” and deplored the Algerian government’s hostile attitude towards relations with its western neighbor.
To distract its people, authoritarian Algeria has often used the “foreign threat” and “general chaos’ as cards to quell any calls for democracy and end of corruption maintaining the population in fear.
Algeria meanwhile has perpetuated the Sahara conflict and blocked progress towards a political solution by arming and supporting financially and diplomatically the Polisario separatist militias since the 1970s.
Algeria’s warmonger leadership launched last month live fire military drills near Morocco’s Sahara borders in a move that adds to a series of provocations showing the inherent hostility of the Algerian regime to Morocco.
The Algerian army has geared focus to the area where it hosts the Polisario separatists conducting offensive war games, which, analyst say, shows Algeria’s obsession with its Western neighbor.
Led by General Said Chengriha who once called Morocco “ the enemy,” the Algerian army used attack helicopters, rocket launchers and tanks in addition to different types of cannons in the drills.
Never has the Algerian military and civilian leadership been so blunt in their hostility to Morocco. The series of attacks have been launched by the President himself who said Algeria will not resort to foreign debt in order to maintain its steady anti-Moroccan stance as far as the Sahara issue is concerned.
Other major historical events that validate the anti-Moroccan doctrine within the Algerian regime date back to 1972. While former president Boumediene was then in Rabat to sign a border demarcation treaty, Algeria was training leftist Moroccans in military bases to overthrow the regime in Morocco. They will go down in history later as the events of 1973, where leftists armed by Algeria attempted a failed armed uprising in Morocco.
The sacking in humiliating conditions of over 350,000 Moroccans and the confiscation of their property in Algeria in response to Morocco’s green march to recover its southern provinces and the continued military and diplomatic support for separatism while blocking any effort towards a political solution are other stark cases of the endemic anti-Moroccan sentiment within the ruling elites in Algeria.
As long as Algeria keeps its doctrine based on anti-Moroccan interests, relations may further worsen leading Morocco to an arms race to maintain balance of power in the region and deter any attack by Algeria’s pawns: the Polisario.
