Morocco and Algeria sharpen swords ahead of the Security Council meeting on Western Sahara
On 21 April, the UN Security Council will meet to debate the issue of Western Sahara, a crucial meeting at which the two main Maghreb states, Morocco and Algeria, the main protagonists of the territorial conflict, are mobilising their entire political and diplomatic apparatus.
The meeting goes beyond the mere dispute over the sovereignty of the former Spanish colony, and the geopolitical and strategic restructuring of North Africa, the Western Mediterranean and the triangular relations between Europe, the United States and Africa are at stake.
Chaired by Vietnam, one of the few Asian countries to recognise the Sahrawi Republic proclaimed by the Polisario Front in exile in Algeria, along with Iran, North Korea, East Timor and Laos, the Security Council meeting is expected to be very tight. None of the Council's five permanent members recognise the Saharawi Republic, and of the remaining ten, only two, Mexico and Nigeria, have diplomatic relations with the Polisario-formed entity with statehood status.
It will also be the first time that the United States, during the Council's preliminary discussions and debate, will have to clarify its position on the executive decision taken by President Donald Trump at the end of his term in office to recognise Moroccan sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara. Algeria has mobilised its political and financial clout to mobilise the US lobby linked to oil companies with juicy contracts in Algeria to put pressure on the Biden administration to backtrack. This is very difficult and extremely unlikely, given Washington's strategic ties with Rabat in the military, security and counter-terrorism fields.
Morocco has scored a very important point by participating recently in an international telematic debate on the coordination of the fight against terrorism and security in the face of the danger of the Daesh movement, sponsored by NATO and Interpol, in which the US, Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Canada, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, Poland and Turkey took part, as well as several leading Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco. Interestingly, Algeria did not participate, despite its leading role in defending collective security in the Sahel and its extensive experience in counter-terrorism. It is not clear whether it was not invited or declined the invitation.
Algiers, for its part, is trying to mobilise its influences in the US, such as John Bolton, Kerry Kennedy, James Baker and James Inhofe, to ask Joe Biden to reverse the US recognition of the Sahara as a Moroccan province, something that US statesmen consider unlikely given that the Executive Decisions adopted by the president have the force of law.
The Security Council meeting on 21 April will mark a turning point in the UN's role in attempting to resolve the four-decade old conflict through negotiation.