Étiquette : Morocco

  • Morocco: What the CIA thought of Crown Prince Sidi Mohamed

    Morocco: What the CIA thought of Crown Prince Sidi Mohamed

    Morocco, Hassan II, Mohammed VI, CIA,

    Under the title « Morocco: The Question of Succession », the CIA drew a detailed portrait of the life of the then Crown Prince and now King of Morocco Mohammed VI. The report was written in 1982 and declassified in 2008. Here are some excerpts on Prince Sidi Mohamed.

    We believe that Sidi Mohamed would follow his father’s moderate, pro-Western stance in the early years of his reign. At least, initially, loyalists of Hassan’s palace clique are likely to dominate Sidi Mohamed’s group pf advisers. Their subsequent jockeying for power, however, could weaken Sidi Mohamed’s control of the instruments of power.
    (…)

    A fundamentalist revolutionary regime is the least likely government to come to power after Hassan dies. Althoug the extremist religious groups would challenge the legitimacy of Sidi Mohamed, they lack a strong charismatic leader and are not sufficiently well organized to make a successful bid for power.
    (…)

    Sidi Mohamed has been rigourously groomed since childhood to be the heir to the Moroccan throne, according to US Embassy Reporting, He frequently appears in public with his father and sometimes performs ceremonial fonctions by himself. During the past two years, Sidi Mohamed has been eased slowly into more important official functions; the Crown Prince attended the Fez and OAU summits in 1981 and has been sent occasionally as special envoy in 1981 and has been sent occasionally as special envoy to deliver personnal messages from his father.

    Sidi Mohamed has been educated at the palace school, which provides a careful mix of royal children and selected commoners from proper families. The school appears to revolve primarily around the education of the Crown Prince, as a new grade level is added when Sidi Mohamed is promoted; According to US Embassy, the pupils work hard and are in class almost all day.

    The Regency Council members a year later formalized the succession arrangements and was intended to allay public concern regarding the transition. Hassan Priobably believed a broadly representativ » council including key interest groups would preserve popular support for the monarchy if the council ever exercised any power.

    Loyal service to the Alaouite throne is the shared hallmark of the council members. Most have been close confidants of Hassan for at least 20 years, and two are distant relatives; In our view, General Ahmed Dlimi; Hassan’ senior military and intelligence adviser, is the only member likely to be a strong, independent political figure; We believe that Hassan may hope that real power and control during a transition period would remain with Dlimi and his closest political adviser, Ahmed Reda Guedira, with the others acting as a rubberstamp to show broad support for the new monarch.

    #Morocco #HassanII #MohammedVI #CIA

  • Feijóo dissociates himself from Sánchez’s « clandestine letter »

    Feijóo dissociates himself from Sánchez’s « clandestine letter »

    Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, PP, Pedro Sanchez,

    Feijóo holds surprise meeting with Morocco’s prime minister and dissociates himself from Sánchez’s « clandestine letter » on the Sahara

    The president of the Popular Party (PP) takes advantage of a congress in the Netherlands to transfer to Rabat that, if he governs, he will not assume Sánchez’s commitments without consensus

    The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has arranged a surprise meeting with the PM of Morocco, Aziz Ajanuch, in Rotterdam, as confirmed by himself upon his arrival in the Dutch city. In a highly unusual bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Congress of the European People’s Party, Feijóo has assured that his intention is for Rabat to know what his position will be if he reaches the Government and is to address the issue of the Sahara within the resolutions of the UN and with the consensus that the PM, Pedro Sánchez, has not sought. Does not assume the Sánchez letter announced by Mohamed VI.

    Feijóo stands out from the letter in this way: « The problem of Western Sahara cannot be solved with a clandestine letter. We must put light on the problem of the Western Sahara, stenographers, transparency, and international agreements. That is exactly the opposite of what he [Sánchez] has done the Government. The only thing that the secrecy to solve an international problem causes more problems, more tensions, more uncertainty and less responsibility towards the Saharawi people, towards Morocco and towards the UN ».

    In exchange for not handing over the Western Sahara like Sánchez, Feijóo assumes a commitment and that is not to hide actions with POLISARIO from Morocco. « The first thing we have is to return again to seriousness in foreign policy. Foreign policy is not an occurrence. Foreign policy is not a necessity due to a breach, such as not notifying Morocco of an action with the leader of POLISARIO that enters Spain illegally, sponsored by the government. A government cannot introduce a citizen illegally into its territory, » he reproached.

    The fact that the leader of the opposition does not assume the commitments that Mohamed VI took for granted after receiving Sánchez’s letter may have future consequences both in relations with Morocco and with Algeria during an energy crisis. This meeting marks the international premiere of the PP leader who has filled his agenda in Rotterdam with other prime ministers from his political force and with the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.

    « Power and counters »

    Feijóo has thus described what his policy with Morocco would be if he is PM: « What I can assure the Moroccan PM, first, that I am not going to deceive him, nor am I going to deceive my country. Second, that everything I am going to try to reach a consensus so that it has a vocation for permanence in the relations between Morocco and Spain, Spain, and Morocco, which are not the relations of a government that is there for a time, but rather the relations of two States. Third, to tell him very clearly that in the field of UN resolutions we can agree on many things ». On the other hand, « outside the UN resolutions, the pacts are not going to produce international effects. »

    « I am convinced that the Moroccan PM will understand me, because the important thing between two countries is that there are no deceptions, that there are no disloyalties and that there are no clandestine letters. We are going to do this clearly and with power and counters. And in the Lower Chamber », assured the head of the opposition.

    PP sources have assured at the end of the meeting that the Moroccan PM has extended an invitation to Feijóo to visit Morocco. « The president Feijóo has accepted and will try to include this visit on his agenda throughout this year, » they say in his surroundings.

    El Mundo, 31 mai 2022

    #Morocco #Spain #WesternSahara #PedroSanchez #Feijoo

  • Appointment of a new Russian ambassador to Algeria shivers in Rabat

    Appointment of a new Russian ambassador to Algeria shivers in Rabat

    Morocco, Algeria, Russia, Valerian Shuvaev, Igor Beliaev, Western Sahara,

    This nomination caused an impressive media fuss both in Morocco and at the level of European media appendages.

    The Russian Federation has just appointed a new ambassador to Algeria, Valerian Shuvaev, a seasoned diplomat. A nomination, far from being an event, but which has toured the world’s chancelleries, and the subject of analysis by numerous editorial staff and international titles. In truth, things take on a whole new meaning if we know that Valerian Shuvaev had been in post in Rabat since 2018. A fine connoisseur of the Maghreb region. And even Moroccan trickery about Western Sahara and the secrets surrounding the agreements of shame with the Israeli entity. Snowball effect, this appointment has caused an impressive media fuss, both in Morocco and at the level of European media appendages. And all the speculations and ramblings are to try to cast shame on this character.

    Commenting on the Kremlin’s decision and giving free rein to its imagination, the Makhzen press described this diplomatic action as a game of musical chairs. Far from hiding the panic and concerns of the Royal Palace, this Moroccan media gesticulation translates, in fact, the latent diplomatic failure of the Makhzen in its hideous quest to colonize a free and independent people. The readings provided by the Makhzen press leave no doubt about the degree of panic in which the kingdom of Mohammed VI is engulfed. Especially since the Russian ambassador, Shuvaev had animated the Moroccan and European media scene since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. In a post published on social networks, and addressed to the heads of diplomatic missions posted in Morocco, Valerian Shuvaev had castigated the deceits of each other, in favor of the call for a boycott of a diplomatic rally in Morocco, in case Russian diplomats take part.

    « The task of professional diplomats is to continue the dialogue and to carefully seek solutions, even if the existing contradictions seem insurmountable » he argued in the face of the host country’s passivity, bordering on complicity. Describing this grotesque gesture as « populist actions and light shows » which are part of the « job of politicians and public figures », he will say that « it is very difficult to understand the colleagues who proposed to the Moroccan organizers of the event annual cultural and educational National Rally of the Diplomatic Corps, to cancel it in case the team of the Russian Embassy will participate in it”.

    In fact, it’s not so much the video posted last March that angered Makhzen officials and supporters, but rather the background. And for good reason, the ambassador addressed his subscribers against the backdrop of an original geographical map where Western Sahara is not annexed to Morocco. A detail that caused an outcry from officials and Internet users affiliated with the Makhzen.

    The Algerians and the free Saharawi people can only rejoice at such an appointment, which heralds radical changes and encouraging diplomatic solutions on the horizon. A graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Valerian Shuvaev was born in 1955, and has been attached to the diplomatic service since 1977.

    He has held various positions in the central office of the MFA Affairs, including the post of Deputy Director in the MENA department. It is Vladimir Baïbakov who will replace his colleague in Rabat, we learn from the same sources.

    L’Expression, May 29, 2022

    #Morocco #Algeria #Russia #WesternSahara

  • Algeria: « honeymoon » with Italy as it cuts ties with Spain

    Algeria: « honeymoon » with Italy as it cuts ties with Spain

    Algeria, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, gas,

    Abdelmajid Tebboune, the Algerian president, recalls from Rome that his country’s relations with his friends, such as Italy, are based on « trust and on the word given and that does not change ». He thus alludes to the turn of the Spanish Government on Western Sahara.

    The Algerian authorities do not reduce their irritation at the alignment of PM Pedro Sánchez with Morocco in the Western Sahara conflict. The Algerian president concluded a three-day state visit to Rome and Naples on Friday, veiledly comparing Italy’s fidelity in her friendship with Algeria to Spain’s alleged disloyalty. Algeria’s relations with his friends are fundamentally based on « trust and on the word given and that does not change, » Tebboune affirmed in the speech he gave last Thursday in Rome. « Any increase in production [of Algerian hydrocarbons] should be oriented, depending on demand, towards Italy, a friendly country, which could become a distributor for Europe, » he announced. Tebboune’s allusions to Spain highlight that Algeria’s anger with the Spanish government endures more than two months after, on March 18, a communique from King Mohamed VI revealed that Spain was renouncing its traditional neutrality in the conflict over Sahara and supports the solution advocated by Morocco to solve it.

    The Moroccan authorities found out about this radical change in Spanish foreign policy through the press, by closing the crisis with Morocco with that great concession, Pedro Sánchez opened another with Algeria. « The head of the [Spanish] government has broken everything with Algeria, » Tebboune lamented on April 23 in a television interview. The clash with the leading economic power in the Maghreb has become chronic and will probably last until the end of the legislature in Spain, according to forecasts by diplomats from both countries. Despite his repeated attempts, the FM, José Manuel Albares, has not been able to establish a dialogue with the Algerian diplomacy, although he asked Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU, for help.

    « As long as Sánchez is disavowed by Lower Chamber – and there have been three times already – on the Western Sahara, as long as this move of his policy supposes internal wear and tear for him, from Algiers they are not going to accept normalizing the relationship », affirms a European diplomat accredited in Algeria. Tebboune’s words in Rome contradict, in part, the aspirations expressed two days earlier in Davos by Sánchez. « Spain, the Iberian Peninsula and, I would say, southern Europe, will have the opportunity to provide an answer to this energy dependence on fossil energy from Russia, » he declared there in an interview with CNBC television.

    That response that Sánchez mentions would have two pillars. The six Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) regasification plants that Spain owns and that account for 37% of Europe’s capacity, although to be able to export it, a better interconnection with France would be necessary than that of the two small gas pipelines that exist today. The second pillar would consist of strengthening the energy relationship with the Algerian neighbor, something unimaginable today. This relationship began to decline when, by order of President Tebboune, the GME gas pipeline that crossed Morocco was closed on October 30. Through this tube, the bulk of the Algerian gas reached Spain. Now only the Medgaz works, which, submerged in the Mediterranean, links both countries, but since the beginning of the year the flow has decreased by 12%. It is not clear if with this reduction Sonatrach, the Algerian public hydrocarbon company, is trying to put pressure on its Spanish clients, starting with Naturgy, in the ongoing negotiation on price revision.

    ToufikHakkar, president of Sonatrach, dropped on April 1 that Spain would be the client whose rates would rise the most. Since the beginning of the year, the US has surpassed Algeria as the first supplier of Spain to which it sells LNG that arrives in methane tankers at Spanish ports. So far this year, only 22% of the gas consumed is imported from Algeria, while in 2021 that percentage was around 45%. Not a week has passed since the end of March without the Algerian authorities expressing, through declarations or the adoption of measures, their irritation with their Spanish neighbor. Algerian immigrants, like Moroccans, return en masse to their country for summer vacations and that is why their public airline (Air Algérie) and their shipping company (Algérie Ferries) increase their frequencies.

    The Algerian Ministry of Transport announced on May 20 the plan for the summer that freezes flights (only four weekly between Algiers and Barcelona) and crossings with Spain (only one weekly between Alicante and Oran), which will make it difficult for the back and forth between the two shores of the Mediterranean. The matter was debated last Tuesday in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Assembly (Algerian Parliament Lower Chamber). Mohamed Hani, its chair, justified Transport’s decision, although he recognized that it would harm immigrants. « Some decisions are taken by higher authorities and, God willing, we will find alternative solutions for the Algerian community » abroad.

    « Sometimes there are more important things » than serving immigrants, he added. « The choice of [air and sea] destinations is a sovereign decision. » « We haven’t removed the flights, but we haven’t added any, » he concluded. Algeria continues to allow Vueling and Iberia to operate between the two countries, but with very few frequencies. The transport restriction is added to many other reprisals taken since the Algerian ambassador to Spain, Said Moussi, was called for consultation on March 19. Among them, the suspension of the importation of Spanish beef stands out, whose annual exports were around 55 million euros per year – now they buy it from France – and the suspension, since April 2, of the repatriations of irregular immigrants arriving in Spain by sea.

    The tension with Spain contrasts with the « honeymoon » that Algeria is experiencing with Italy. The authorities and the Algerian press value it, thus giving the Spanish government to understand that its commitment to Morocco has made it lose many opportunities. Tebboune concluded his trip to Rome on Friday, but this was preceded by visits to Algiers by PM Mario Draghi and FM Luigi di Maio.

    This sensational strengthening of the ties between Algeria and Italy has caused concern in the Spanish government, as revealed in mid-April by the economic press agency Bloomberg. Italian and Spanish diplomats held talks after « concern grew in Madrid that their access to [Algerian] hydrocarbons could be affected, » he said. « They were merely informative contacts in which it was clear that the Italian-Algerian relationship will not harm Spain, » said a high-level Italian source.

    When the agreements recently signed in Rome and Algiers are implemented, Draghi will be on the verge of achieving his goal: to make Algeria Italy’s number one energy supplier, ahead of Russia. Already last month, Sonatrach and ENI, its Italian equivalent, agreed to increase gas exports to Italy by some 9,000 million cubic meters per year through the Transmed gas pipeline that ends in Sicily. It could thus pump 30,000 million annually.

    During the visit to Rome they also signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of green gas and hydrogen fields in Algeria. Tebboune himself announced, finally, that the project of an electrical submarine cable between the two countries that would pass through Sardinia is being reactivated.

    El Confidencial, May 28, 2022

    #Algeria #Spain #Morocco #WesternSahara #Gas

  • Did Morocco hack into Mohammed Barkindo’s smartphone?

    Did Morocco hack into Mohammed Barkindo’s smartphone?

    Morocco, Nigeria, Nigeria-Europe gas pipeline, Algeria, OPEC, Mohammed Barkindo, Spain, Pedro Sanchez, Western Sahara,

    Spain, Nigeria’s about-face,…: When the Makhzen excels in blackmail

    Supported by lobbies and Zionist media relays specialized in propaganda, the Makhzen exercises a horrible blackmail on the leaders of some countries and does not shy away from any process, even if it is petty and criminal, to achieve its goals and objectives. It is an undeniable fact that the Moroccan regime tries by all means to demonize Algeria, discredit its image and defeat everything that is favorable to it, economically and politically by presenting it as an unreliable country, allied with Russia, which is blackmailing (sic) Spain and other European countries even though everyone knows that in this game, few nations can compete with Morocco. And it is certainly not the Pegasus scandal that will tell us otherwise.

    The examples are, on this subject, legion. The latest is none other than the about-face of Nigeria in the case of the gas pipeline intended to supply the European continent with gas. While there was no question that the pipeline passes through Morocco, here is that to the surprise of all, the Nigerians suddenly change course, between February and late April, in a very suspicious and dubious way especially, opting for a route of scheme that crosses our western neighbor. The most informed observers see in this reversal an umpteenth twisted coup of the Makhzen but always with the same modus operandi and the same techniques, namely blackmail and diktat. Otherwise how to explain this exit of the Nigerians especially since Algiers and Abuja have everything tied up in this case.

    Specialists do not rule out the use of Morocco to hack the smartphones of some Nigerian officials and especially the SG of OPEC, Mohammed Barkindo, who would have weighed all his influence to bend the position of his country to the benefit of the Cherifian Kingdom, which will, moreover, receive financial support from OPEC, well, well, in order to implement the gas pipeline project on the ground.

    In any case, such actions by the Makhzen are far from being a precedent. Let’s remember the sad Spanish episode in the Western Sahara issue and the change of position of the Iberian government. It is clear that this turnaround of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, poorly hides the hand of the Moroccan regime that has threatened Spain via the issue of illegal immigration. Worse. It is whispered that the Makhzen holds compromising things on the Spanish PM for the latter to initiate a 360 ° turn, which has prompted the Spanish judiciary to take an interest in the subject and open an investigation while the government of Sanchez is trying to gain time not to embarrass its relations with Morocco and, above all, avoid the display in the public square of other scandals that would affect members of the government.

    File d’Algérie, May 19, 2022

    Read also : L’Humanité accused Morocco of using “Pegasus” to monitor individuals and governments

    Read also : Morocco and the Pegasus scandal: Mohammed VI knew

    Read also : Over 200 Spanish mobile numbers ‘possible targets of Pegasus spyware’

    Read also : On the list: Ten prime ministers, three presidents and a king

    #Morocco #Nigeria #Algeria #Gazoduc_nigeria_europe #Transaharan_pipeline #Pegasus #Espionage

  • Western Sahara : Large truck crashes into Khaya home

    Large truck crashes into Khaya home – Morocco, Sultana Khaya, Just Visit Western Sahara,

    WASHINGTON, D.C./Boujdour, Western Sahara, May 15/16, 2022 — At midnight a truck repeatedly crashed into the home of Khaya Sisters. It smashed the house and garage doors 3 times. Local people stopped the truck from smashing into the front door and halted the attack.

    Witnesses shared that the truck first attempted to hit the east side of the house but the street was too narrow so it went to the other side. The truck appeared to be empty.

    The first Moroccan “police” car on the scene drove by, appearing to ignore the attack. Within minutes, approximately 30 Moroccan agents appeared, some who had previously participated in home invasions and assaults on the Khaya family, including rape.

    No investigation took place. No one questioned any witnesses. The driver of the truck is unknown. “Police” escorted the truck away.

    Sultana Khaya said, “The whole house shook. For a huge truck to crash three times into the door of my home is an obvious attempt to harm my family and my American guests.”

    Dr. Stephen Zunes, professor at University of San Francisco and expert on Western Sahara said, “This seems like a bizarre and despicable attempt to harm or injure the Khaya sisters and their guests.”

    The Khaya Sisters are human rights defenders in Western Sahara who advocate against violence towards women and for self-determination of the Saharawi people. They have been the subject of a siege for more than 500 days and in March were visited by American tourists who have been staying in the home.

    The Americans are part of a US coalition called Just Visit Western Sahara. It is a network of groups and individuals committed to peace and justice for the Saharawi people, protection of their human rights, respect for international law, and encouraging Americans and international travelers to witness the beauty and appeal of Western Sahara and to see the reality of the Moroccan occupation for themselves.

    Just Visit Western Sahara, mai 16, 2022

    Read also : Conflict escalates in Western Sahara

    Read also : After Trump’s Colonial Carve-Up, Western Sahara Has Risen Up

    Read also : Western Sahara : Algeria bets on a more prominent role for Russia

    #Morocco #WesternSahara #SultanaKhata #JustVisitWesternSahara

  • Morocco: Western Sahara at the heart of the mission of the new ambassador to the EU

    Morocco: Western Sahara at the heart of the mission of the new ambassador to the EU

    After having been ambassador in countries considered hostile to Morocco, Youssef Amrani is now posted in Brussels, where he must defend the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, his specialty since the 1990s.

    Since the recognition by the US of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, in exchange for the normalization of its relations with Israel, the kingdom has been leading an all-out diplomatic offensive to encourage other powers to take the plunge. Particularly its main European partners. Appointed Moroccan Ambassador to the EU in October, Youssef Amrani is one of the faces that embody this strategy. With more than 30 years spent in various positions within the MFA, this diplomat is considered a specialist in one of the most sensitive issues in North Africa: that of Western Sahara. The question of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony considered a « non-autonomous territory » by the UN, has for decades pitted Morocco against POLISARIO Front, supported by Algiers, which broke diplomatic relations with Algeria in August 2021. Rabat. On Sunday January 30, a senior Algerian official accused Morocco of “murdering” civilians “outside internationally recognized borders” and using “sophisticated weapons”, referring to the use of drones. Recruited in 1978 as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the diplomat has climbed from all levels of Moroccan diplomacy: consul, ambassador, secretary general of the MFA, minister delegate to the same department, project manager in the royal cabinet… with the common thread is the Western Sahara file. An “unusual” profile insofar as his predecessors had very different backgrounds. This is the case, for example, of Ahmed Rahhou who, before presiding over the destinies of this strategic embassy between 2019 and 2021, had been appointed head of a bank and could not claim any experience in diplomacy. But the choice of Youssef Amrani would be dictated in particular « by the tensions with certain European countries around the question of the Sahara and by the need to defend the interests linked to it in Brussels », confides to Middle East Eye a fine connoisseur of Moroccan diplomacy.

    “He has already maneuvered in more hostile terrain”

    Former general manager of Microsoft in North and West Africa and former Minister of Industry, Ahmed Reda Chami, the predecessor of Ahmed Rahhou, had never gravitated in the diplomatic universe either before taking the reins. of this embassy in 2016. Amrani’s choice is also dictated by the context. In a diplomatic dispute with Spain, because of the hospitalization in April 2021 of Brahim Ghali, the leader of POLISARIO, in a hospital in Logroño after complications linked to his contamination with COVID-19, Morocco had recalled its ambassador to Madrid and cut all diplomatic ties with its largest trading partner in Europe. Since then, the kingdom has been maneuvering so that its European neighbor adopts a more frank position in favor of the autonomy plan it is proposing for the settlement of the conflict. Morocco had also suspended, in March 2021, all its diplomatic relations with Germany, accusing it of « antagonic activism » the day after the recognition by the US of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. Berlin then requested a closed session of the UNSC devoted to the decision taken by Donald Trump. “Our diplomacy now requires frankness from its partners. Amrani’s mission, which perfectly masters this file, is to help obtain recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara from European countries. Knowing that he has already maneuvered in more hostile terrain”, decrypts our source. The diplomat had indeed been ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama with residence in Bogota from 1996 to 1999, then to Chile until 2001, before being appointed to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Belize, territories which were – and still are for some – hostile to the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco. Before his appointment as ambassador to the EU, Amrani was also posted in South Africa, a country with which Morocco had completely cut off its diplomatic relations in 2004 following its recognition of SADR. “His posting to Pretoria in 2018 took place a few months before South Africa joined the UNSC for two years. His role was then to rally South African personalities and institutions to the autonomy plan. It was difficult given Pretoria’s position, but he managed to defend the Moroccan position through publications and interventions in the South African media, » a former diplomat told MEE.

    No trade partnership without Western Sahara

    A former member of the Istiqlal, a nationalist party whose Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara has been a pivot since the country’s independence, the ambassador now has the mission of applying a new doctrine: no commercial partnerships that do not would not include the territory of Western Sahara. This is essentially the watchword given by King Mohammed VI on November 6 on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the Green March, a great march towards the Western Sahara, then under Spanish occupation, launched by King Hassan II in the aim of recovering it: “We would like to express our consideration to the countries and groups which are linked to Morocco by conventions and partnerships and for which our southern provinces constitute an integral part of the national territory. On the other hand, to those who display vague or ambivalent positions, we declare that Morocco will not engage with them in any economic or commercial approach that would exclude the Moroccan Sahara”. A thinly veiled warning against Bruxelles, whose ECJ had just canceled two trade agreements relating to agricultural products and fisheries from Western Sahara between Morocco and the 27. The cancellation, pronounced on September 29, followed an appeal lodged by POLISARIO. A snub that Rabat did not digest, although the EU appealed the decision on November 19 to maintain the agreements. “There is a clear change of course. While Ahmed Rahhou had missions of an essentially economic nature, such as removing Morocco from the gray list of tax havens, or even migration and climate change, Youssef Amrani has the mission of strengthening Morocco’s relations with the ‘Europe without yielding anything on the Sahara file’, summarizes the former diplomat.


    Middle East Eye, 21/02/2022

    #WesternSahara #YoussehAmrani #Morocco #EU

  • Tebboune greatly regrets Angela Merkel’s departure

    Tags : Algeria, Germany, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Angela Merkel, Western Sahara, Morocco – Tebboune greatly regrets Angela Merkel’s departure

    Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently closed his country’s airspace to France out of anger at a comment from Emmanuel Macron. DER SPIEGEL spoke with Tebboune about the diplomatic fracas, his country’s path to modernization and why journalists are still being locked up in Algeria.

    The road leading to the presidential palace in Algiers winds its way up to a barrier manned by heavily armed military guards. Behind them are the expansive palace grounds, with whitewashed buildings, verdant courtyards and burbling fountains.

    Since December 2019, the palace has been occupied by Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The 75-year-old became president after two decades of rule by Abdelaziz Bouteflika, that sickly, aging autocrat who, toward the end of his reign, ran the country from a seaside villa, supported by the all-powerful military. But by spring 2019, Algerians had had enough of the corrupt, incompetent Bouteflika and poured into the streets by the hundreds of thousands, triggered by the president’s announcement that he intended to run for a fifth term in office. The protest movement, which came to be known as Hirak, forced him to step aside that same year. In December elections, Tebboune received the most votes.

    At just 40 percent, though, voter turnout was historically low. Many who had joined the protest movement boycotted the election. They had been hoping for a longer interval between Bouteflika’s resignation and new elections, which would have given Hirak more time to organize. But the army pushed through the vote, for which just five out of 23 candidates were certified – all of whom were products of the country’s entrenched power structures.

    Algeria is a key country for Europe from both a strategic and political perspective. Migrant routes run through the country, used by people from sub-Saharan Africa and others eager to reach Europe. And Algeria also supplies natural gas to Spain and other European countries. The largest country in Africa by area, Algeria shares a border with northern Mali, a restful region controlled by various groups, some of them Islamist, where French and German troops have been the target of repeat attacks. The country’s other neighbors include Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. As such, the government in Algiers plays a vital role of mediator and as guarantor of security – when it actually decides to take on the task.

    Tebboune is currently attempting to reposition his country on foreign policy, seeking to establish closer ties to new partners like the United States, Italy and Germany, in part as a way of distancing his country from the former colonial power of France. In October, he broke off diplomatic relations with Paris and is allegedly is no longer taking calls from the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he used to maintain close contact. Withstanding such crises, say those close to Tebboune, is part of Algeria’s newfound sovereignty.

    DER SPIEGEL: Mr. President, in a conversation with young Algerians in late September, the French president raised the question as to whether Algeria had even been a nation prior to its colonization by France. You immediately broke off diplomatic relations in response. Is a single sentence enough to justify such a reaction?

    Tebboune: You can’t question a people’s history and you can’t insult the Algerians. What was revealed there was the old hatred harbored by the colonial masters, though I know that Macron is far away from thinking in that manner. Why did he say that? I think it was for reasons of campaign strategy. It is the same discourse that has long been pursued by right-wing extremist journalist Éric Zemmour: Algeria wasn’t a nation, he claims, it was France that transformed it into a nation. With his comment, Macron placed himself on the same side with those who justify colonization.

    DER SPIEGEL: But until that point, you got along well with Macron. You were involved in joint projects, including taking a new look at your nations’ histories. Do you regret the current crisis?

    Tebboune: I have no regrets. Macron reignited an old conflict completely unnecessarily. When Zemmour says something like that, who cares? Nobody pays attention to him. But when a head of state claims that Algeria wasn’t an independent nation, that is very serious. I won’t be the one to take the first step. Otherwise, I’ll lose the support of all Algerians. It’s not about me, it’s about a national problem. No Algerian would accept it were I to initiate contact with those who insulted us.

    DER SPIEGEL: Last year, the French president commissioned a report from a historian who has been asked to make recommendations for how Paris should deal with its colonial history. What did you expect from him, from France? An apology?

    Tebboune: Our country doesn’t need an apology from Macron for something that happened in 1830 or 1840. But we do want a complete and unreserved recognition of the crimes that France committed. And Macron has already done so. In 2017, he declared publicly that colonization had been a crime against humanity. You know, the Germans destroyed an entire village in Oradour-sur-Glane in 1944. That massacre is commemorated to this day, and rightly so. But in Algeria, there were dozens of Oradour-sur-Glanes. The residents of innumerable villages were herded into caves, wood was thrown inside and then set on fire. The people suffocated horrifically.

    DER SPIEGEL: So there is no indication that the crisis with France will end any time soon?

    Tebboune: No. If the French now want to travel to Mali or Niger, they’ll have to fly for nine hours instead of four. Though we will make exceptions for the recovery of the injured. But when it comes to everything else, we don’t really have to cooperate with each other anymore. Maybe that’s just over. We weren’t subhumans, we weren’t a people of nomadic tribes before the French showed up.

    « I greatly admire Angela Merkel’s stamina and her modesty. I greatly regret that she is now going. »

    DER SPIEGEL: In your interactions with a different European country, with Germany, your tone has been far more conciliatory. Why? What binds Algeria with Germany?

    Tebboune: The Germans have always treated us with respect. They have never approached us with arrogance and there have never been any disagreements on foreign policy. Plus, I greatly admire Angela Merkel’s stamina and her modesty. I greatly regret that she is now going. I will never forget how she personally looked after me when I was in Germany for medical treatment. Germany is a role model for us in many different ways.

    DER SPIEGEL: You are also interested in expanding economic ties with Germany. What are your expectations from the new government in Berlin, once it takes office?

    Tebboune: To be honest, all that is possible. I would, for example, like to see us build a large hospital in Algiers together. A place that can handle all specialized areas of medical care, for the entire Maghreb. An African president could then finally receive treatment on his own continent instead having to travel to Switzerland. We would be prepared to finance the bulk of this project. There is also a great deal of potential on renewable energies. With German help, we could supply Europe with solar power.

    DER SPIEGEL: Two years ago, you promised to put an end to the old way of doing things and initiate a new era in Algeria. How much of that has since come true?

    Tebboune: I eliminated taxes for all salaries below 30,000 dinars, around 190 euros, per month. I have increased the minimum wage. Rural regions that have thus far been largely forgotten are receiving special assistance. But one of the most important tasks is that of injecting new morals into the administration and the economy. We have been battling corruption for the last two years.

    Tebboune spent enough time as part of the power apparatus in Algiers to know how few scruples Bouteflika had. Over the course of several years, the old head of state transferred billions of dollars out of the country. The new government is still searching the world for the stolen money with the help of consulting firms – in the U.S., in Switzerland and in other European countries. The new government apparently also seized large sums of money in Algeria itself – at least that is what those close to the president claim. Tebboune has also announced numerous economic reforms. But how many of those plans will he actually be able to implement? Is the Ministry of Startups, which he launched, just a bluff or is it really an effort to change things in the country? And what does it mean when the head of the military is on television just as often as the president?

    DER SPIEGEL: Before you took office, the military locked up high-ranking members of the old power apparatus, including Bouteflika’s brother Saïd, who was later sentenced. Were additional arrests made on your watch?

    Tebboune: Of course. I am currently battling corruption primarily in the lower ranks. What took place at the governmental level was an unforgiveable squandering of this country’s riches. It is the citizens who must pay for day-to-day corruption. But that is now over. Never again should someone have to produce a banknote in a city hall to get a new passport.

    DER SPIEGEL: Is it really possible to just change a system and habits that have become ingrained over the course of several decades?

    Tebboune: It starts with the fundamental things. We had to completely rebuild the state. We used to have what I would call an informal state. I brought a lot of people from the private economy into government. The government spokesman used to be a television moderator; the man who now leads the Ministry for Startups was part of the 2019 protest movement. We are currently completely revamping the audit office. We are going after tax dodgers. And we have agreed on a new constitution that will grant the citizens more rights.

    DER SPIEGEL: And yet, people in Algeria are more frightened of state repression than ever before and are afraid of expressing their opinions. Journalists are being arrested in your country. Are you not just the civilian façade of a continuation of the military regime?

    Tebboune: The Algerian people know that isn’t true. I was the one who nominated the chief of the army. In addition to being president, I am also the defense minister. The country’s secret services are under my control and no longer belong to the military. That is the new reality in Algeria, underpinned by the constitution: self-confident action instead of dependencies.

    DER SPIEGEL: What is the current balance of power between the army and the president?

    Tebboune: I’ll tell you. The chief of the army, who is under my command, received an order from me to modernize the military. Beyond that, he has enough to do with the sensitive situation on our borders. I am the political leader. Nobody will carry out that responsibility in my stead. I was the one who ordered the closure of Algerian airspace for French military flights. I was also the one who did the same for Moroccan aircraft. But it is impossible to get rid of the image the world has of Algeria as a military state.

    DER SPIEGEL: There is a passage in the new constitution that allows for Algeria to send soldiers abroad. Are you planning on sending your own troops into Mali?

    Tebboune: We can now be asked for help. The UN can turn to us, or the African Union. If the Malians were to find themselves facing an imminent attack, we would intervene if requested to do so. But our soldiers are Algerians who have families. I will not send them to their deaths to defend the interests of others. Enough Algerians have died in the past. The big question in Mali is how the country can be reunited. Algeria, in any case, will never accept the partitioning of Mali.

    DER SPIEGEL: France isn’t the only country you are having trouble with. You have also closed Algerian airspace to your neighbor Morocco. Why?

    Tebboune: The Moroccans want to divide Algeria. Their UN representative expressed support for the independence movement in a part of our country, Kabylia. Nobody, not even the king, redressed his comments. Ultimately, we cut off relations.

    DER SPIEGEL: But you are supporting the Polisario Front, which is seeking independence for Western Sahara. Morocco claims that territory as its own. Why are you doing so?

    Tebboune: We are in favor of allowing the Sahrawi to decide on their own fate. Only Morocco isn’t playing along. You know, there is something that bothers me about the public perception of the two countries. In Morocco, the king is wealthy, but the illiteracy rate is still 45 percent. Here, it is just 9 percent. Europe erroneously imagines Morocco like a beautiful postcard, but we are seen as a kind of North Korea. Yet we are an extremely open country.

    And yet many young Algerians, even entire families, are leaving the country and crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. Speedboats depart from Oran in the western part of the country, and it is thought that they are under the control of mafia-like organizations. The government tries to avoid the issue of illegal migration wherever it can. There are no official numbers regarding the migrants, and it is dangerous for Algerian journalists to publish migration statistics collected by Spain. Some of them, says one journalist who asked that his name not be published, have even been arrested due to posts on Facebook. A climate of fear, the journalist says, has once again spread across the country.

    DER SPIEGEL: Isn’t the fact that so many Algerians are leaving the country a condemnation of your leadership?

    Tebboune: It isn’t the economic situation that is driving our youth to Europe. It is the dream of a life in Europe. Nobody must suffer from hunger in Algeria. Among those who have left are many doctors and lawyers. But please let’s not forget: There are also a large number of Algerians who obtain visas to travel to Paris and Marseille, and then return home after two weeks.

    « Freedom of the press does not cover the production of Fake News nor does it allow for the vilification of one’s country. »

    DER SPIEGEL: But many no longer believe that you are really bringing democracy to the country. You have had journalists arrested. Is that the new Algeria that you once promised?

    Tebboune: There are journalists in prison in France and also in the U.S. Why shouldn’t there be any in Algeria? We have 180 daily papers here and there are 8,500 people working as journalists in the country. But when two or three of them are rightly convicted, people say: oh, they’re locking up their journalists. Freedom of the press does not cover the production of Fake News nor does it allow for the vilification of one’s country. In cases where these red lines are crossed, the judiciary must act.

    DER SPIEGEL: You would, then, tell all your doubters that you are serious about transforming Algeria?

    Tebboune: The Hirak, the uprising, is over. I am now the Hirak. The uprising was a national movement, not some collection of splinter groups. I have declared Feb. 22, the date on which the protests began in 2019, as a national holiday because this movement put a stop to the deterioration of our country. Perhaps you remember the images showing a resilient people with a well-developed sense for freedom – similar to Cuba, Vietnam and other revolutionary countries.

    DER SPIEGEL: Mr. President, we thank you for this interview.

    Der Spiegel, 09/11/2021

    #Algeria #Germany #Morocco #Western_Sahara #France #Macron

  • Algeria Moroccan pipeline in the world press

    Algeria Moroccan pipeline in the world press – Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune took decision ‘in light of the hostile behaviour’ of Morocco, as tensions between Algiers and Rabat continue to grow

    ALGIERS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune decided on Sunday to stop natural gas exports to Spain through Morocco, the official APS news agency reported.

    The presidency announced in a statement that Tebboune ordered the state-owned energy company Sonatrach to stop commercial relationship with Morocco and not to renew the gas pipeline contract with Morocco, which ends at midnight of Oct. 31, 2021.

    The statement stressed that the president made the decision due to Morocco’s « hostile » practices towards Algeria that affect national unity.

    Algeria has used the Gaz-Maghreb-Europe (GME) pipeline through Morocco to transfer natural gas to Spain.

    Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab affirmed on Oct. 11 that his country will remain « the faithful and guaranteed » gas supplier to Europe.

    He said the Medgaz gas pipeline, linking Algeria and Spain by sea, guarantees an annual supply of 8 billion cubic meters of gas, noting that the pipeline capacity is due to increase to 10.6 billion cubic meters by December.

    Algeria, producing 1.2 million oil barrels per day and 130 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, is Africa’s biggest natural gas exporter. It has been using pipelines and tankers to provide natural gas to European countries.

    Algeria cut diplomatic relations with Morocco in August, citing what it described as the latter’s « hostile » policies.

    Morocco later expressed regret over Algeria’s « completely unjustified » decision to sever diplomatic ties between the two countries

    Xinhua, 21/10/2021

    —————————–

    Algeria to halt gas exports to Spain via Morocco
    Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune took decision ‘in light of the hostile behaviour’ of Morocco, as tensions between Algiers and Rabat continue to grow

    Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday ordered state energy firm Sonatrach to halt gas exports to Spain through a pipeline that traverses Morocco, due to tensions with Rabat.

    Algeria, Africa’s biggest natural gas exporter, has been using the Gaz-Maghreb-Europe (GME) pipeline since 1996 to deliver several billion cubic metres (bcm) per year to Spain and Portugal.

    But the GME contract is due to expire at midnight on Sunday, just over two months after Algiers severed diplomatic ties with Rabat over « hostile actions » – accusations Morocco has dismissed.

    Tebboune « ordered the cessation of trade ties between Sonatrach and the Moroccan National Office for Electricity and Potable Water (ONEE), and the non-renewal of the contract, which expires at midnight Sunday », a statement from the presidency said.

    The move would not have a significant impact, ONEE said in a statement on Sunday night.

    « In anticipation of this decision, the necessary measures have been taken to ensure the continuity of the country’s electricity supply, » it said.

    Tebboune took the decision after consultations with the prime minister and the ministers of energy and foreign affairs « in light of the hostile behaviour of the (Moroccan) kingdom which undermines national unity », it said.

    Algerian and Spanish officials on Wednesday said Algiers would, from now on, deliver its natural gas to Spain exclusively through an undersea pipeline to avoid Morocco.

    But experts have said the alternative undersea line, known as Medgaz, has a smaller capacity than the GME, amid growing concern in Spain of gas shortages and soaring energy prices across Europe.

    Spain’s Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera sought to sound reassuring during a meeting in Algiers earlier this week, speaking of « arrangements taken to continue to assure, in the best way, deliveries of gas through Medgaz according to a well-determined schedule ».

    Months of tensions

    Medgaz can carry eight bcm a year, with planned work to increase its capacity to reach 10.5 bcm.

    Algeria has also proposed increasing deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by sea.

    Maghreb geopolitics expert Geoff Porter told AFP that the shipping option did not make financial sense.

    Algeria and Morocco have seen months of tensions, partly over Morocco’s normalisation of ties with Israel in exchange for Washington recognising Rabat’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.

    Rabat has rejected the accusations of hostile acts that Algeria has levelled at its neighbour.

    Middle East Eye, 31/10/2021

    ———————————

    Morocco says Algerian decision to end gas supply has ‘little impact’ – 2M TV

    Nov 1 (Reuters) – Morocco said on Sunday that the Algerian decision not to renew a gas supply contract with Morocco has “little impact” on the national electricity system, Morocco state-run 2M television said, citing a statement by the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water.

    The office also added that necessary arrangements have been made to ensure the continuity of electricity supply and that other options are being studied for sustainable alternatives in the medium and long terms, 2M TV reported.

    Reuters, 01/11/2021

  • Morocco is suing L’Humanité after the Pegasus scandal

    Morocco, L’Humanité, Pegasus, spyware, France, Algeria, NSO Group,

    Morocco is suing L’Humanité for defamation after the French newspaper accused the authorities in the Kingdom of using the Israeli “Pegasus” spyware to monitor individuals and governments, including French President Emmanuel Macron and senior officials in Algeria. The newspaper announced its awareness of the legal action on its website yesterday.

    L’Humanité described the legal move as “a blow to freedom of expression”, but its original report caused a lot of damage to the government in Rabat, not least because Algeria relied on it to justify its decision to sever relations with Morocco.

    Rabat initiated legal proceedings in the Spanish courts in August after Spanish newspapers and magazines accused it of espionage using Pegasus. At that time, the Moroccan News Agency said that the Moroccan government would initiate legal proceedings “because of repeated publication and broadcast of false, malicious and misleading slanders against the Kingdom on Spanish soil.”

    Morocco has also taken legal action against German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, after filing similar lawsuits on 22 July against Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories. They stand accused of claiming that Rabat hacked the telephones of many national and international public figures using the Pegasus spyware. Le Monde, Mediapart, and France Radio are also being sued for defamation.

    British newspaper the Guardian published on 14 July the results of an investigation conducted by 17 media organisations which revealed that Israel’s Pegasus spyware had spread widely around the world and was used for illegal purposes. In a statement at the time, the Moroccan government denied accusations that it had spied on public and foreign figures using the spyware.

    Libya Express, 20/10/2021