Cancellation of Algerian concerts in Morocco favours pro-war supporters
Another step in the escalation of tension between Algeria and Morocco, which sets the stage for a military conflict. The death of two young Franco-Moroccan jet-skiers in the Moroccan Mediterranean region of Saidia, who entered Algerian territorial waters, at the hands of an Algerian Navy coastguard patrol, and the capture of a third who is awaiting trial in Algeria, has brought bilateral relations between the two North African countries back to a boiling point.
Despite the Algerian Defence Ministry's insufficient explanation and the fact that the Moroccan official authorities have not made any accusations and are awaiting "judicial handling" of the deadly incident, the cancellation of the planned concert by the Algerian singer Cheba Warda, aka Charlomanti, in a Casablanca discotheque, by its organisers, has added fuel to the fire. This goes against the philosophy advocated by King Mohammed VI of an outstretched hand, formulated in his Throne Speech last July, imploring a sincere reconciliation between the two and promising "the Algerian brothers, both the leaders and the people" that "Morocco will never be the source of any harm or prejudice" against them.
To this must be added a second cancellation, this time of the Algerian singer Amine Babylone, scheduled to perform at the Timitar Festival in Agadir. In the absence of an official justification, both the organisers and the singer himself allude to "causes beyond their control", which has triggered speculation on social networks as to whether it was the Algerian authorities who put pressure on the popular singer, or the Moroccan authorities who put pressure on the organisers of the Timitar Festival.
The manipulation of the tragic incident in Saidia by anti-Moroccan extremists in Algeria and anti-Algerian extremists in Morocco only favours obscure offices and economic-financial lobbies linked to the military industry, both in North Africa and in the global network of arms merchants (the arms race between Algeria and Morocco has reached astronomical figures of tens of billions of euros in the last five years).
In both civil societies, however, more and more voices are being raised in Algeria and Morocco to stop this escalation. Algerian journalist Abdou Semmar has launched an appeal to stop the race of hatred and preserve relations between the two brotherly peoples, clearly separating culture, art and music from the political and (or) military conflict between the two regimes. Interestingly, Mohammed VI's calls for reconciliation have more effect on genuine representatives of civil society than on "war supporters", whether in Algeria or Morocco.