Due to tensions arising from their differences on the Sahara issue, Algeria, the protector of the Polisario, and Morocco have intensified their arms race to the point of becoming the biggest spenders in North Africa.
Tunisia would seek to normalize its diplomatic relations with Morocco. The country would like to appease the tensions that arose after the reception of Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario, by the Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, during the Africa-Japan summit held in Tunis in 2022.
France and Algeria are going through a turbulent period. Paris denounces a "posture of hostility" on the part of Algiers, and Emmanuel Macron will soon bring together the ministers concerned "to assess the follow-up and the measures to be taken."
Several Polisario militiamen from Algeria are said to have been killed by a strike from the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) as they entered the buffer zone at the level of Bir Lahlou, in the Sahara.
Morocco has recovered 40 kilometers of "new Sahrawi territories liberated after November 13, 2020", where clashes had occurred between the Polisario militia and the Royal Armed Forces (FAR). A setback for the independence movement supported by Algeria.
The Moroccan authorities announced on Tuesday that Ghana has suspended its diplomatic relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
The Polisario, protected by Algeria, accuses Morocco of obstructing the "decolonization" of Western Sahara and the international community of inaction.
The Polisario once again warns the organizers of the 16th edition of the Africa Eco Race automobile rally scheduled for December 29, 2024 to January 12, 2025 with stages in the Sahara and a passage through El Guerguerate towards Mauritania.
For several years, relations between these two North African countries have deteriorated considerably, to the point of fearing an open armed conflict. At the heart of this diplomatic crisis is the thorny issue of Western Sahara, a disputed territory where Morocco asserts its sovereignty while Algeria supports the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi independence movement.
During his intervention at the political assembly of the European People’s Party, held on November 21 and 22 in Valletta (Malta), Lahcen Haddad, representative of the Istiqlal Party, warned against the growing security threats in the Maghreb region, including the use of Iranian drones and missiles by the Polisario.
Faced with the barely veiled threats from Algeria to open an armed conflict, Morocco is preparing to fortify its borders with its neighbor and rival.
The Polisario Front has condemned the support expressed by some countries, including France, for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara, saying that this position of Paris "undermines the peace agreements" and "violates international legality".