Jordan’s King Proposes Roadmap to Ease Algeria-Morocco Tensions Amid Gas Pipeline Dispute

On the sidelines of his state visit to Algiers on December 3 and 4, King Abdullah II proposed a roadmap - focused on the economic aspect - for the resumption of diplomatic relations between Algeria and Morocco, reported Maghreb Intelligence, adding that with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Jordanian sovereign was to insist on the need to relaunch the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline (GME) closed by Algiers which no longer renewed the contract at the end of October 2021, and consequently to convince it to work for the thawing of natural gas exports to Spain via Morocco.

But on the Algerian side, no official source confirms the Jordanian mediation to resolve the Moroccan-Algerian crisis. "The subject was not even mentioned during the one-on-one between the two Jordanian and Algerian leaders," says the site Algérie-expat, noting that the Algerian authorities are giving no hope to Morocco for a possible normalization of relations.

Since the "unilateral" severance of its diplomatic relations with Morocco, Algeria persists in saying that it does not want any "mediator". In a statement reported by APS, in May, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra assured that he "does not tolerate any mediation" in the rupture of relations with Algiers and that the country’s position "is unequivocal".