Morocco-Mali Alliance Raises Concerns for Algeria’s Regional Influence in Sahel

Towards the isolation of Algeria in the Sahel? The Algerian services fear that the main cooperation project between Morocco and Mali, aimed at connecting the Sahel to the Atlantic via the Sahara, and recently presented in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad, will cause enormous damage to Algeria. This Moroccan project aims to transform the economies of the Sahel, improve the lives of its populations and promote security in the region by connecting the Sahel countries to the Atlantic. The kingdom says it is ready to make "its road, port and rail infrastructure" available to the four countries, each of which will set up a "task force" to define their priorities and prepare the operationalization of the plan. The potential economic revenues generated through economic cooperation with Morocco and the increasingly important military support from Russia would allow Mali and Niger to defeat the Tuaregs.

In a long security report, the Algerian intelligence services warn the Algerian leaders against the consequences of the Morocco-Mali rapprochement, two countries with which Algeria no longer maintains good relations, Maghreb-Intelligence reports. According to them, the main cooperation project between Rabat and Bamako constitutes "a major threat to Algeria’s interests and a fatal factor that will accelerate Algiers’ isolation in the Sahel". In the event of the realization of this project, Morocco will take the lead and position itself definitively as an indispensable influential player in Mali as well as in Niger, the two countries bordering Algeria, warn the Algerian intelligence services. Consequence: the neighbor to the east would find itself alone in managing and assuming sole responsibility for controlling the armed Tuareg rebel groups, facing the terrorist or separatist threat that would thus turn towards the south of the country.

To address this potential threat, the Algerian intelligence services call for finding quick and effective solutions to resolve the diplomatic crisis with Morocco on the one hand, and to continue the warming of its relations with Niger on the other. They also propose to find an alternative to the Moroccan project, in order to regain influence over the ruling elites in Mali and Niger. To achieve this, the authors of the report suggest the implementation of action plans in the shortest possible time.