Revealed: 1962 Secret Plot - Algeria’s Early Conspiracy with Spain Against Morocco

Only two and a half months after the proclamation of its independence, on July 5, 1962, Algeria was planning its first maneuvers to conspire and coordinate militarily with Spain in order to target Moroccan interests. This is revealed by a secret French diplomatic telegram, dated 1962, which the French ambassador to Rabat, Pierre de Leusse, addressed to the senior officials of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time. "A lieutenant of the Algerian National Liberation Army" presented himself, at the head of a motorized patrol, to the commander of the Spanish military post of "Mahbès", in the Saguia el-Hamra region, in order "to establish friendly relations with the Spanish authorities in the border sector of Tindouf", specifies the text.

But the intentions of the Algerian officer went beyond the field of friendly relations. He "proposed a regular exchange of information on Morocco, the establishment of radio communications with a common code between the Algerian and Spanish military, as well as close contacts between the patrols of the two countries", the telegram also specifies. And to conclude: "this information comes from a source that should be protected".

This document is proof that hostilities against Morocco are not new. The text also precedes by "just a few months the outbreak of the Sand War between Morocco and Algeria in October 1963, and shows that tension in the border areas, particularly around Tindouf, was intensifying through planned Algerian actions".