But another debate that MANY have debated was that of Madara vs Aizen, and now . Indeed, shortly after Algerian independence, tensions between the two countries rose. Although the Moroccan state did not interfere in the annexation of the Tuat region, several Moroccan tribes independently sent volunteers to fight against the French. Countries similar in appearance but heterogeneous in fact. For Mediterranean and Atlantic leaders, it wants to be the bridge of communication, information and understanding between cultures. It stalled due to unexpectedly stubborn resistance from the town's Algerian and Egyptian garrison. Beyond the vast opportunity manifest in African markets, we highlight people who make a difference; leaders turning the tide, youth driving change, and an indefatigable business community. [28] For these reasons, the Cuban government formed the Grupo Especial de Instruccin to be sent to Algeria. "Alone at Home" children's play debuts at Sharjah Children's Reading Festival 2023. But without strong evidence, I think they would be hard pushed to launch some kind of military attack in response," Gower said. The troops provided training to the Algerians, and their medical team offered the population free healthcare. Algeria said it repelled Moroccan ambitions for land on the border, while Rabat said it retaliated against the border provocations of the Egyptian-backed Algerian army. Although Rabat is more open to dialogue than its neighbour Algiers, mediation is at a standstill. Morocco's and Algeria's top military and secret service leaders have risen through the ranks and often led brilliant and sometimes action-packed careers. Progress on the issue has been at a standstill ever since Morocco and the Polisario Front signed a cease-fire agreement in 1991, but Rabat recently scored a few diplomatic wins, such as the United States' move to recognise Moroccan sovereignty over the territory in late 2020. Please enable Javascript in order to access to this story. Even the Front des Forces Socialistes(FFS), the oldest opposition party in Algeria, recalls that the unity of Algeria is a red line that no one can cross under any pretext, and that Kabylia is an integral part of the land of Algeria and states that this is a desperate attempt to strike at the unity of Algeria and sow discord among the Algerian people united and proud. Andrew Wells-Dang on U.S.-Vietnam Ties 50 Years After the Paris Peace Accords. So far, no mediation has been successful, but both capitals do not close their doors to mediators. [34] The Cubans offloaded their equipment and transported it to the southwestern front by rail. Not a week goes by without a new report of an attack on Moroccos defensive wall. However, the contract between Algeria's state-owned energy company Sonatrach and the Moroccan National Office for Energy and Potable Water (ONEE) ended without renewal in late October this year. The conflict was a Cold War theater: Algeria was supported by Egypt and Cuba, while Morocco was endorsed by the United States. Relations between the Algerian Socialist Republic and the Sherifian Monarchy are far from stabilized, and one cannot avoid considering peace in this region of the Maghreb as a fragile truce that the slightest incident could call into question. 5 July 2021 AFP In our series of letters from African journalists, Algerian-Canadian journalist Maher Mezahi questions why the border between Algeria and Morocco has been closed for so many. Algeria also protested against a court ruling that sentenced the man accused of burning the flag to two months in prison. However, even if Algiers has chosen to escalate by refusing to renew the gas contract and by closing its airspace, these measures are being taken with some restraint. [29] The Soviet Union supplied Algeria with ten T-34 tanks, but these were equipped for clearing minefields and were delivered without turrets or armament. ", This page was last edited on 1 May 2023, at 21:49. The two countries have a common border and share the same language, religion, and culture. The conflict was a Cold War theater: Algeria was . Morocco maintains its programme of strategic alliances and its projection on five continents intact. In the case of the Maghreb, both sides have been told by "sources close to power" - the Moroccan Royal Court and the Algerian armed forces - that they do not want war, "but if it is inevitable, they say, they are ready". An unwritten dissuasive consensus united the two regimes, Algerian and Moroccan, not to use Kabylia and the Rif as an extension in their conflict over Western Sahara. But history shows that states do not always have absolute control over their own level of aggressiveness: an escalation that is initially controlled can quickly degenerate. 'Jeune Afrique' magazine continues to be banned in Algeria, where it, too, has become a casualty of the tensions between the two countries. During the Cold War, Algeria was much less inclined to liberalism. By downloading this PDF you agree to subscribe to The Africa Report Daily newsletter, This year's AU could work to Morocco's advantage over Western Sahara, Morocco/Algeria : Tensions on the rise after Algerian show mocks the King, Morocco/Algeria: Western Sahara conflict shows signs of escalation, Morocco/Algeria: The armed forces behind the Western Sahara conflict, Morocco/Algeria: Military leaders in the shadows, Morocco/Algeria: Jeune Afrique, a magazine caught between two mortal enemies. She believes that neither side can really afford to push the envelope too far. Until that point, relations between Algeria and Morocco were icy, but cooperative. This application was rejected three years later for geographical reasons, as Morocco is not European. Moroccos King Mohammed VI called for the restoration of diplomatic ties with Algeria. The Algerian authorities had previously cut their diplomatic . The published content of the pages contained herein is unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse in any form. However, for Algeria, much is alsoat stakeif they can't meet the demand. [40], The OAU mediated a formal peace treaty on February 20, 1964. But this perspective itself may still seem too ambitious. So, it is quite a risky position to take.". The Africa Report takes an in-depth look at the forces involved. In 1903, France also began expanding westwards towards Bechar and Tindouf. A presidential statement confirms that Tebboune had given the order to not renew the contract "in light of the hostile behavior of the (Moroccan) kingdom which undermines national unity.". The construction of the Maghreb must now be understood, more modestly, as a simple harmonization of traditionally competitive economies, and the development of more coherent diplomacy in a certain number of areas, particularly in relation to the European Union. [11][30] They possessed forty T-54 main battle tanks that they had purchased from the Soviet Union, twelve SU-100 tank destroyers, seventeen AMX-13s, and a fleet of gun-armed Panhard EBR armored cars. - Some of these stepping stones to armed conflict have already been completed: severance of diplomatic relations; total cooling of economic and trade relations; cancellation of contracts of joint ventures operating in both countries; suspension of the bilateral contract for the joint use of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline linking Algeria-Morocco-Spain and Portugal; ban on Moroccan civilian and military flights over Algerian airspace; cancellation of international meetings of a multilateral nature in which both countries could be present (absence of the Moroccan and Algerian ministers at the Union for the Mediterranean meeting in Barcelona; suspension of the Russia-Arab World meeting in Marrakesh, to which the Algerian minister was invited; harsh dialectical clashes between the two diplomacies in various United Nations forums). However, while the countries are similar in many areas, the political anchoring is different between Morocco and Algeria. So far, Morocco has denied any involvement in the bombings that took place in the Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara near the border with Mauritania. Moroccos hostile acts would thus indirectly be the arson that caused 92 deaths and thousands of displaced persons in the country between August 9 and 16, 2021 even if the material evidence of such accusations is of course absent. The warlike contest, if it were to take place, would be limited to the use of navy, aviation or ground defence to attack the adversary's positions from a distance. The Moroccan consul in the western Algerian city of Oran called Algeria an enemy country, prompting the Algerian foreign ministry to summon the Moroccan ambassador and to declare the implicated diplomat persona non grata. In short, it would be a matter of arranging peaceful coexistence between dissimilar regimes that have given up at least for Morocco on the chimerical idea of a kind of Maghreb integration. That is what we believe will change the continent, and that is what we report on. Rabat turns to US and French suppliers, while Algiers sticks with Russian-made military goods. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. The main culprit? This period had an impact on Algerian politics, which perceived Europe as a neo-colonialist threat. Analysts however doubt that an escalation is imminent. Tensions between the two neighboring North African countries have been growing, and Algeria's rhetoric points towards an armed conflict. [28] Morocco also possessed modern strike aircraft, while Algeria did not. [31] This prompted further attempts at negotiations, but these proved ineffectual as well. Why is Netflix pouring billions into South Korean shows? [13] Beyond that there is only one border area, without limit, punctuated by tribal territories attached to Morocco or Algeria. Morocco and Algeria are involved in another diplomatic spat after Rabat condemned provocative acts and transgressions at the opening of a regional football tournament in Algeria. On 1 November, the 67th anniversary of the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence, three Algerian truck drivers, who were travelling between Nouakchott and Ouargla, were killed in an attack that Algiers attributed to Moroccan forces. Tensions between the two neighbors crystallized following the normalization of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel under the Trump administration in late 2020, in return for the U.S. recognition of the Moroccan identity (marocanit) of Western Sahara, and this in a complete break with a six-decade-old policy. Relations between arch-enemies Morocco and Algeria have hit a new low after three Algerian truck drivers were killed on Monday. The Algerian government is taking this case particularly seriously since it is firmly opposed to any desire for independence from Kabylia, an Amazigh/ Berber-speaking region in northeast Algeria. Called the War of the Sands, this war refers to the attack of the Algerian army on Moroccan troops which caused the death of 12 Moroccan soldiers. In doing so, they have effectively pledged their support to Morocco. Longer than expected shader compilation time when first launching THE LAST OF US Part I. The New Algeria, the political and economic program of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected in December 2019, is supposed to respond to the claims of the blessed Hirak. During the Cold War, the late King Hassan II used this conflict as an instrument, drawing a parallel between the Western Sahara conflict and the confrontation between East and West, citing Algerias ideological proximity to the USSR. The desire to adopt the European model is such that Morocco even went so far as to apply for membership in the European Union in 1984. The Moroccan viceroy of Tafilalt who was in charge of collecting tribute from the region refrained from interfering in the conflict, and thus the local tribes were left to fend for themselves. This resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Algeria's ill-equipped. In 1940 each of the five territories along the North African coastEgypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Moroccohad a colonial or semi-colonial status under a European power. Algiers is seeking to reassert its weight in the region after several years of retreat that had left the way open for Rabats influence at the regional and international levels. It must be said that Rabat, seeking a counter-fire to Algiers support for the Polisario, the independence movement of Western Sahara, crossed a red line in mid-July by distributing, via its diplomatic representative in New York, a report evoking the right to self-determination of the Kabyle people. Get your free PDF by completing the following form. In order to understand what is at stake, it is worth reflecting on several points: - First, for there to be a war, there must be two opposing camps, either alone as countries or in coalition with other allies. In response, Algeria denounced foreign maneuvers aimed at destabilizing it, citing a real desire to attack Algeria through the arrival of the Zionist entity at its doorstep. The sheer loss of life on all sides, from the French days on, the money that could have been spent on human needs, the hatred and civil anguish, all wasted, all down the toilet for nothing -- all the fears and predictions came to naught, and today Vietnam is a . However, Ben Bella suspended the attack in order to proceed with negotiations to end the war peacefully. Incorrect password. For Rabat, it is a matter of defending the integrity of its territory.