Algeria beats drums of war as Morocco scores diplomatic goals on Sahara issue

The enraged Algerian military regime is beating the drums of war again in reaction to consecutive Moroccan inroads in defending its sovereignty over the Sahara and its autonomy plan for the territory.

Unable to swallow a painful blow dealt by the UN Security Council in its recent resolution on the Sahara issue, Algeria seems to be emboldening the Polisario to use terrorist tactics against civilians in Morocco’s Sahara.

These tactics can be read as an expression of Algerian and Polisario frustration following the UN Security Council resolutions which describe Morocco’s efforts to end the conflict as “serious and credible,” while calling for the parties – including Algeria- to return to round tables and show compromise to find a mutually acceptable political solution to the conflict.

The momentum is now unstoppable. The return of Trump would play into Morocco’s interest in settling the conflict based on the autonomy plan, which has the support of global powers like France, Israel, and Sapin as well as most of Africa and the Arab World.

Mired in anachronism under the grip of a deepening economic and social crisis, the Algerian regime is no longer satisfied with pulling the strings of the Polisario on the Sahara issue. The Algerian octogenarian men in uniform have now replaced the Polisario speaking on its behalf in international forums and warmongering on its behalf, while staging military parades to tell the world they are ready for war as they also aim to distract their own people from a deepening social and economic crisis.

Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita told Moroccan MPs that Algeria seeks to escalate the dispute into a war, according to Moroccan media citing sources who attended the meeting.

If Algeria decides to enter the conflict directly after decades of using the Polisario proxies to unsettle Morocco to no avail, that would vindicate Morocco which has always been saying that Algeria is the real party to the conflict and the belligerent that has blocked any progress towards the autonomy solution.

Beating the drums of war is an expression of the failure of Algerian diplomacy in defending a separatist chimera from a bygone era.