Is Algeria Using the Consulates as a Pressure Card in Its Crisis With Morocco?

After a Moroccan diplomat managed to open consulates in the disputed Sahara region for nearly two years, observers say that Algeria realized its diplomatic "mistake" and is seeking to remedy it.

Morocco chose a new strategy based on "consulate diplomacy" after Washington announced, on December 10, 2020, its recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the territory of the Sahara.

Morocco's policy of opening consulates in the region and focusing on strengthening political and economic relations with African capitals were met during the era of former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika with "neglect" tendencies.

Observers believe that the step of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, his intention to open an embassy for his country in Guinea-Bissau, is a stepping stone to getting closer to the countries of the continent and not leaving the vacant place in capitals where they were diplomatically absent, which allowed these countries to choose the Rabat side explicitly and open consulates in the Sahara region.

 

Correcting the Mistake

On August 30, 2022, Tebboune announced that his country intends to open an embassy in Guinea-Bissau, to restore bilateral relations between the two countries.

During a press conference that brought Tebboune together with his counterpart in Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, Tebboune said: There are circumstances that made the two countries move away from each other, but from this visit, relations will return to normal.

He pointed out that it is "unreasonable" that Algeria does not have an embassy in Guinea-Bissau, adding: Therefore, we will correct this error.

In parallel, Morocco announced, on August 31, 2022, the opening of a consulate in the city of Dakhla in the Sahara region.

The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said, in a statement, that Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and his counterpart in the Republic of Cape Verde, Rui Alberto de Figueiredo Soares, supervised in Dakhla the opening of the consulate.

With the opening of the Cape Verdean consulate, the total number of consulates in the region rose to 27, including 14 in Dakhla and 12 in Laayoune in the Sahara.

The countries that have opened consulates in Laayoune are Ivory Coast, Comoros, Gabon, Sao Tome, Central Africa, Burundi, Zambia, Eswatini, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, and Malawi.

Rabat proposes expanded autonomy under its sovereignty in the Sahara region, while the "Polisario" Front calls for a referendum for self-determination, a proposal supported by Algeria, which hosts refugees from the region.

Since the end of the Spanish occupation and its presence in the region, the Sahara region has witnessed since 1975 a conflict between Morocco and the Polisario, and the conflict turned into an armed confrontation between the two sides, which was halted in 1991 with the signing of a cease-fire agreement under the auspices of the United Nations.

Moroccan observers believe that the countries that opened their consulates in the southern provinces emphasize that the Sahara is Moroccan and support the Moroccan diplomatic position.

The Moroccan Hespress website said that the last days have shown that the Algerian regime has moved extensively against Morocco through attempts to attract a group of countries that have expressed their support for the Moroccan proposal and have opened consulates in the cities of the south, such as Dakhla and Laayoune in the Sahara region.

He stated in a report published on September 1, 2022, that Tebboune worked to try to win over voices in support of the autonomy proposal submitted by Morocco.

In this regard, Algeria received the President of Guinea-Bissau, who currently holds the presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (CEDEAO), and announced that a Guinea-Bissau embassy will be opened to restore relations between the two countries to normal, according to the report.

The site indicated that Algeria's maneuvers reached a great level of action that questions Moroccan diplomacy, as it placed a private plane at the disposal of Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye to take him to Tunisia (to participate in the eighth summit of the Japan-Africa Cooperation Forum/ TICAD on August 27 and 28).

It stated that Guinea-Bissau and Burundi support the Moroccan Sahara and the autonomy proposal through their previous inauguration of consulates general in the southern provinces of the Kingdom of Morocco.

 

Rectification Path

While the Algerian university professor and political analyst, Abdel-Rahman bin Charit, said: "I do not think that Algeria is heading to open the embassy as a reaction to the consulates that Morocco is seeking to open in the disputed desert."

Bin Charit explained to Al-Estiklal: "Algeria is looking for penetration into Africa, and I think it wants to have embassies in many African countries, and after the visit of the President of Guinea-Bissau, Tebboune expressed his desire to have an embassy, ​​and Algeria welcomed this request."

For his part, the Moroccan researcher in political science, Amin al-Idrisi, said, "Morocco's policy of opening consulates in the desert is an initiative through the developments in the issue of our territorial integrity with Washington's recognition of its Moroccanness."

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, he pointed out that "official figures confirm that 40 percent of African countries have opened consulates in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla, and this is a victory for Moroccan diplomacy to cling to the legitimate rights of the Kingdom's lands."

Regarding Algeria's move to open the embassy, ​​al-Idrisi said: "Even if it comes in the context of Morocco's competition on the African continent, it remains limited and requires a long time to reach the Kingdom's achievements in this regard."

He continued, "When we talk about nearly 50 percent of countries that have weight in the continent, they have taken a decision to stand by Morocco and open consulates. There is no comparison with a decision to open or reopen an embassy in that country."

Al-Idrisi pointed out that "Rabat's recent announcement of the imminent holding of a ministerial meeting for the countries that opened consulates in the cities of Dakhla and Laayoune, a message to all of Morocco's diplomatic competitors."

In the midst of this crisis between the two neighboring countries, the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, said that the Maghreb region has entered into a crisis over the past year and a half, as tensions between Algeria and Morocco took a new turn for the worse.

A report published on September 1, 2022, pointed to the causes of tension between Algeria and Rabat, saying that the rifts began since independence in the late fifties and early sixties.

It mainly mentioned the 1963 Sand War over the borders inherited from colonialism, the ongoing Western Sahara conflict since 1975, and the closure of the border between the two countries in 1994.

It said that these factors, among others, "obstructed peace" between the two neighboring countries from the beginning, stressing that the dispute "impedes" their economic advancement.

It continued, "Although they are neighbors and share the same language, culture, and religion, they have not been able to benefit from each other's resources."