Algeria-Morocco Diplomatic Rift Raises Concerns for Sahel Stability

"The breakdown of diplomatic relations between two neighboring countries is never good news; it is even less so when it comes to the Maghreb and, in this case, Algeria and Morocco. [...] This measure is not only the result of the accumulation of disputes between the two countries. The impact of this rivalry also constitutes an additional source of concern for instability in the Sahel," comments the French newspaper, noting "a rise in fever in a region that did not need it".

The author of the editorial lists the points of friction - the acrimony between Algiers and Rabat around the Western Sahara issue has been long-standing since the 1970s, the closure of land borders between the two countries since 1994, on the decision of the Algerian authorities -, and points out that the diplomatic crisis between the two countries has taken on a new dimension since the American recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara in December 2020, in exchange for the normalization of the kingdom’s relations with Israel.

"Trump’s ’deal’ - which his successor, Joe Biden, has not yet reversed - has given wings to Moroccan diplomacy, which has been much more offensive since then," observes Le Monde. "For its part, the Algerian regime probably hopes, by appealing to the nationalist fiber, to divert the attention of the population from its internal difficulties," it is analyzed. "But this new Algerian-Moroccan stiffening, in the wake of the disturbances of the diplomacy of the Trump era, is also likely to weaken the cohesion of the international effort, under the leadership of Paris, on the Sahel. In such a volatile context, at a time when the situation is deteriorating in Tunisia, the consequences are potentially negative for the entire region," concludes the editorialist.