King Mohammed VI invites Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to come "to dialogue" in Morocco
The King of Morocco Mohammed VI alongside his son Prince Moulay El Hassan on July 13, 2022. AFP - -
Text by: Victor Mauriat
4 mins
A few days after having given up on going to Algiers for the Arab League summit, the King of Morocco Mohammed VI invites the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to come to dialogue in the kingdom.
A new opportunity to renew the ties severed in August 2021, despite ever greater disagreements.
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From our correspondent in Morocco,
It was in an interview granted late Tuesday evening to our colleagues at AFP that Nasser Bourita, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that he had forwarded King Mohammed VI's invitation to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
This invitation is not new since the king officially advocates a so-called “outstretched hand” policy towards Algeria.
But it comes at the height of the Arab League summit organized by Algiers and only a few days after the sovereign's refusal to go to the Algerian capital because of "
bilateral and regional considerations
".
On August 24, 2021, the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Morocco and since then, the deep disagreements that exist between the two countries have made the possibilities of dialogue rare and difficult to put in place.
The Arab League Summit, a missed opportunity
On September 27, Rabat welcomed the Algerian Minister of Justice, Abderrachid Tebbi.
The latter came to give an official invitation to King Mohammed VI for the 31st Arab League summit scheduled for Algiers.
If the appearance of the invitation is formal – Arab leaders have been systematically invited since its first edition in 1946 – the context of tensions gives a particular dimension to the royal response.
During the month of October, rumors multiplied in the international press.
Some saw the king coming with his Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, others with his son, Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan.
Suppositions reinforced by the last Speech from the Throne, last July 31, where the king affirmed that “
the borders which separate the Moroccan people and the Algerian people brothers will never be barriers preventing their interaction and their agreement
”.
"
The king wants to pursue a Maghreb policy of overcoming disputes, putting them on the table and looking to the future
," explains Mustapha Sehimi, Moroccan political scientist and professor of law at Mohammed V University in Rabat.
But the situation just before the summit was not favorable to consider a restoration of relations
”.
Indeed, during the preparatory weekend, a few days before the start of the summit,
tensions emerged during meetings between Moroccan and Algerian delegations
.
The shadow of Iran
Beyond the tensions of the weekend, the arrival of Mohammed VI was "
never within the realm of the possible
", analyzes Jalal Harchaoui, researcher at the Global Initiative.
Because the "
regional considerations
" mentioned by Nasser Bourita go beyond the framework of the formal bickering of the preparatory weekend and even the thorny question of the Sahara, a source of long-standing conflict between Rabat and Algiers.
“
The disagreements are too deep
,” explains the researcher.
In December 2020, two years after severing diplomatic relations with Iran, Rabat normalized its relations with Tel Aviv and engaged, following the example of rapprochements initiated by other Arab countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, economic and military cooperation with the Jewish state.
At the same time, explains Jalal Harchaoui, “
Algiers is keen to have cordial relations with Iran and is campaigning for the return of Syria
(excluded in 2011)
to the Arab League
”.
However, from the Western point of view, the number one threat is in Tehran where the regime is still pursuing, according to the United Nations, its uranium enrichment program.
"
On the side of the monarchies of the Gulf, Egypt but also Morocco, there is an attenuation of the historical cleavages that are the Israeli and Palestinian questions for the benefit of Iran
”, abounds Mustapha Sehimi.
With such antagonistic positions concerning Iran, Syria, Israel, but also on the territory of Western Sahara, the "
coming of the king would not have changed much in any case in the nature of relations between Morocco and Algeria
", details Jalal Harchaoui.
"
Between Morocco's rapprochement with Israel and the Iranian question, the mere presence of Nasser Bourita without major incident is already a reason for satisfaction
".
As for the coming of the Algerian president to Morocco, it is not for now, in his interview with AFP, Nasser Bourita warns that "
this kind of meeting cannot be improvised
".
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