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2012-08-13

Maghreb summit risks another delay

By Nazim Fethi in Algiers and Jemal Oumar in Nouakchott for Magharebia – 13/08/12

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A meeting of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) slated for this October in Tunisia could be postponed amid lingering differences among member-states.

The union, which includes Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, has repeatedly put off a gathering of heads of state since they last met 1994.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, who has toured the region to convince leaders of the need to hold a summit as soon as possible, remains optimistic.

Speaking July 26th, at the height of the controversy over the summit's postponement, the Tunisian president stood his ground, saying: "The leaders of the Maghreb have all officially confirmed that they will attend the UMA summit scheduled to take place in October, including the president of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and King Mohammed VI of Morocco."

However, he mentioned that the venue has been changed. Initially scheduled to take place in the border town of Tabarka, it is now due to be held in Tunis.

President Marzouki said that the goal of the summit was "to re-launch the UMA, which has stalled for several years".

"We must follow the example of the European Union," Marzouki added.

The Tunisian president's remarks followed comments by the Moroccan and Algerian governments questioning whether a summit was necessary at the moment.

The first to cast doubt on the usefulness of the summit was Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelillah Benkirane, who announced on July 26th that the time was "not yet right" to hold the summit and that "until the border between Morocco and Algeria has been opened", such a meeting "will be merely a formality".

This comment was followed by another one made by Algerian Foreign Ministry spokesman Amar Belani, who said that "the date when the Arab Maghreb Union summit will be held is still subject to consultations and will be decided when the process of preparation is complete".

He later said that the summit and the closed Algerian-Moroccan border were two "completely separate" issues as far as the Algerian government was concerned. The re-opening of the border "is a purely bilateral matter", he said, adding that the summit would "be the grand finale of efforts to improve relations between the two countries".

On the anniversary of King Mohammed VI's accession to the throne, President Bouteflika reiterated his "steadfast determination to reaffirm the ties of brotherhood and good neighbourliness between Algeria and Morocco".

The monarch asserted in his own ceremonial speech that the country was "still working to strengthen its bilateral ties with all partners in the Maghreb, including our neighbour Algeria".

He did not mention the summit, and neither did President Bouteflika in his congratulatory message.

Amid the great optimism of Tunisia and the reservations of Morocco and Algeria, with Libya and Mauritania yet to speak their minds on the matter, it remains doubtful whether the summit will go ahead, at least for the time being.

Mauritania, however, has expressed its desire to develop the union on many occasions, whether through joint Maghreb co-operation or through bilateral co-operation.

In a Throne Day message to King Mohammed VI, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said that his country was determined to work "with the leadership of Morocco in order to develop the Arab Maghreb Union, as well as to development joint co-operation between Nouakchott and Rabat".

Experts say the official pronouncements are nothing new.

"Citizens are tired of the speech of diplomacy and have started looking toward what is more important," commented Mohamed Ould Salek, a specialist in Maghreb affairs.

"Maghreb unity has long existed at the level of the people, but we discover in every political or diplomatic speech that unity does not exist and that there are impediments and obstacles," said Yacob Ould Saleh, an international relations researcher.

"We do not perceive a difference between Algerian, Moroccan, Libyan, Tunisian and Mauritanian. And the governments, between which there remain sensitivities, must open the borders to goods and to the movement of people, especially Morocco and Algeria, while the rest of the other countries do not suffer from any problem," Ould Saleh added.

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  1. Anonymous_thumb

    Barcelona-krimo 2012-8-30

    Leave the border shut. They are parasites on Algeria and are never content. We do not want them. Let them ask Spain, “their friendly and civilised state” to grant them a special status so that they can move freely in the lands they sold out (Ceuta and Mellila and the other islands) and – why not? – to Spain and the Shengen. Spain is a “friendly and civilised state”; it's just a matter of knowing how to ask; and it will accept. The Moroccans know how to polish shoes. May they not forget! The Western Sahara and its people will be free, God willing!

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  2. Anonymous_thumb

    @ Thaouri 2012-8-25

    Here is a definitive response to the henchman under the alias “Nord Africain”: I am going to give you a definitive Moroccan response regarding our Saharan provinces of Saguia El Hamra and Oued Eddahab. Rubbish(and that is being polite!!!) Our provinces are overflowing with gas and hydrocarbons and they are strategic sites of unprecedented marine life for the nearby countries, not to mention the millions of residents who want to fight off our eternal enemies, who just had the tables turned on them and who are incapable of locking down their own borders, which have been reduced to real sieves given the smuggling of drugs, cars, subsidised medicines, televisions, refrigerators, combines, flour, eggs and even bread, which is hot out of the ovens of Maghnia, and so on. The Algerian dinar is "traded" at a tenth of it value and so on and so on and so on. Everyone is profiting from this, and this will continue. There is no bother in opening our border with a country that will remain our eternal enemy up until the Judgement Day. We will not forget our Tindouf or our Eastern Sahara, which France stole from us and these same eternal enemies annexed. We will take back our provinces of Ceuta and Melilla and the neighbouring Islands when we decide to and through agreements with Spain, which is not our enemy, but our European neighbour, which is to say a credible and democratic state, not a "rogue state".

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  3. Anonymous_thumb

    "Félés du bocal ... 2012-8-22

    Since some of our leaders are in the rear guard, obsolete and destined to vanish like the snow in the son, let us say that these "crackpots" cannot forestall the peoples’ march toward freedom. This is like obstructing the top of a volcano to prevent the flames from spitting out; they will spit out even more violently in another direction, catching everyone off guard and causing even more damage. In Islam, a Divine Right government is a heresy! Submitting men to a man of flesh and blood, who is as limited as any other man, is an insult to reason. Hand-kissing is a shameful and unacceptable action for a Muslim. All this tyranny must come to an end and men must regain their dignity! As for the union, which is the obsession of the leaders who are the most subservient to Judeo-Christian interests, for which they are but the executors and servants, it will be the work of the peoples or it will not be at all. The examples that we have before our eyes are counter-models not to be followed. Just like marriage without love is just a lowly matter of interests, our people will think twice about this! Foreign injunctions will not change a thing!

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  4. Anonymous_thumb

    ... bédoui ! 2012-8-20

    By God, is there no one in his entourage, close staff or state apparatus to teach him to sit in a chair, stand in front of his interlocutor and speak with a bit of a good manners? As for the background, there is no need to address this! It is desperate!

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  5. Anonymous_thumb

    Anonymous 2012-8-20

    The problem with the leaders of the Maghreb is that they do not dare to say frankly that the proposed union, the Arab Maghreb Union, is a union against nature. It would be better then to be frank and for each to follow their own inclinations. To start with, I propose a union between Mohamed VI and Israel and another union between Bouteflika and the Polisario, and over time Tunisia and Mauritania could go to a dating service.

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  6. Anonymous_thumb

    African 2012-8-19

    Blessed Eid to all the North Africans and Africans!

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  7. Anonymous_thumb

    Farid-Bondy 2012-8-17

    To Kamel! – Hi, my brother. I will not delay you too much. Tell the Algerians that I am proud of all of them! Long live Algeria, my love!!! And long live Toufik Makhloufi! Ever since he climbed up on the podium, we have been partying every evening after we break the fast. Even the Gauls are with us! Life is beautiful, by God!

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  8. Anonymous_thumb

    logic 2012-8-17

    To Feguigui – “Morocco remains outside the Organisation of African Unity.” This makes sense! Morocco is located in the Arabian Peninsula and is part of the Gulf emirates, except that it has no oil. This explains it. This is why you have to present yourself as a model to follow for Africa. Taking a wrong step is liable to put you in a straight jacket. In other words, your words, Feguigui, are demented.

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  9. Anonymous_thumb

    nord-africain 2012-8-17

    May Morocco start by freeing the Sahrawi people and their land, and then it will make a leap forward. No one will join an adventure with someone who denies the existence of a people – the brother Sahrawi people. The adventure of real value is the union of the peoples, not of leaders or of foreign hegemonic interests. The only adventure of real value is the African adventure and nothing else! We have been Africans since the dawn of time and will be to the very end. Who, in 2012, is simple-minded enough to let themselves get caught in the shady deal that does not give its name in order to satisfy the interests and desiderata of people foreign to the region in question, North Africa, for which Morocco is the Trojan horse? Your vindictive tone will not change anything about that fact. May Morocco talk to us about the border of the "Sahrawi Republic". Is it open? May Morocco talk to us about the borders of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Are they open? Do the Moroccans have free access to these territories even though they are theirs? We can talk about borders for a long time. What arrogance and lack of good sense!

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  10. Anonymous_thumb

    N-A 2012-8-15

    An /Arab/ Maghreb summit? We are North Africans (NA) and we are proud of and happy with our African-ness, our identity, our religion, etc. We are not concerned with this.

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  11. Anonymous_thumb

    "les lois de la mer..." 2012-8-15

    When the route is booby-trapped, the captain is a puppet master, the boat is questionable, the pay is non-existent, the weather is in the red and the risks are excessive, the sailors refuse to sail. They take over the ship, restore it, change the captain, modify the route and the destination, wait for the green light from the weather and so on, and then the majority make a decision to lift the anchor or not!!! God alone decides, no one else!

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  12. Anonymous_thumb

    Pueblo 2012-8-15

    A popular proverb says “In each delay there is something good”.

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  13. Anonymous_thumb

    Mohamed Feguigui 2012-8-14

    The truth is that organising a summit of the heads of state of the Great Maghreb makes no sense when the border between two of the five members remains closed. On the contrary, I am shocked that one could consider this summit as being the grand finale of making efforts. I am, quite the opposite, convinced that the summit will only be the start of considerable efforts to try to bring together the points of view on various polices to put into common implementation. In effect, the citizens of the five member countries, which do not want to be members, are becoming closer and closer, whether or not the leaders like it. On the flip side, among the leaders, there seem to be those who do not want to play by the rules accepted by the others. They want their own rules. (It has always been this way in playgrounds.) We desperately hope they will take a leap of good sense. Perhaps, they need the opinions of their citizens, provided they give them opportunity to give their opinions. If not, the heads of state should leave, and leave they will. We need to intensify bilateral relations between the member states and, more especially, efficiently develop exchanges with a bit of compromise. I am not the only one to notice the success of Morocco’s diplomacy throughout the African continent and its economic success with all of Africa while Morocco remains outside the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). I propose that those who have the desire for a Union of the Grand Maghreb get their inspiration from Morocco’s African policies and do as much themselves, if not more. A word to the wise!

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  14. Anonymous_thumb

    Démocrate 2012-8-14

    Damned be the Arab spring, which has inflicted such calamities, such infiltrators, such “democracy” that kills the demos, such legions of Caesar and their processions of very very bad theatrics on us! The people are not losing their course! If others have definitively lost their Latin, and I am speaking about the “eminencies, experts, specialists, preachers in troubled waters and other gurus – it serves no purpose to continue lying, let alone trying to be convincing!!!

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  15. Anonymous_thumb

    "Nord Africain" 2012-8-14

    What era is this when anyone can come along and offer us his “fatwa”? Obviously, this is made possible only by the venality of the enslaved media, which gags the cries of the victim and amplifies to the point of being deafening the nonsense of predators and the pathetic stooges. As such, a complete nobody, Yacob Ould Saleh, an “international relations researcher”, says, “We do not perceive a difference between Algerian, Moroccan, Libyan, Tunisian and Mauritanian. And the governments, between which there remain sensitivities, /must/ open the borders to goods and to the movement of people, especially Morocco and Algeria, while the rest of the other countries do not suffer from any problem.” Who are you, Yacob Ould Saleh, to speak in the name of the sovereign peoples? No one! So, you are permitted to shut up. If Moncef Merzouki has every personal reason to spruce up in front of his mentors and benefactors, this does not concern us and, more especially, this cannot be the political line of the peoples of North Africa. “‘We must follow the example of the European Union,’ he added.” This takes the cake? Is this an injunction? From whom? From Moncef? Why not start at the beginning? This model that he is imposing on us is in bankruptcy, and does it have a single point in common with our states, which are maintained in underdevelopment and despoilment because we are under the hegemonic grip of Françafrique? Are we supposed to reproduce this imperialist counter-model, this union of ultra-liberal, predatory capitalism, which excludes the European peoples from any decision and enslaves them by putting them in an situation that becomes ever more precarious by the day? Mr Moncef Merzouki, make the law in Tunisia if your people follow you, but not for the other peoples.

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