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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 30 Sep. - 6 Oct. 1999 Issue No. 449
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Maghrebis tone down tensions
By Dalal Abu GhazalehMorocco and Tunisia appear to have ignored last month's verbal attack against them by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and are calling for new efforts to hold a summit to revive the long dormant Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). Leaders of both countries, who met in Morocco last week, declined to respond to Bouteflika's outbursts in which he accused Rabat of allowing its territory to become a haven for radical Islamist rebels and criticised Tunisia for mistreating Algerian visitors.
So far, Algerian leaders have refused to say whether the summit, the first since 1994, would be held as scheduled in Algiers in November. But the fiery language used by Bouteflika against Algeria's North African neighbours appears to have subsided since the 16 September Referendum in which he won overwhelming endorsement for his plan to bring to an end more than seven years of virtual civil war in Algeria.
In a clear reference to both Tunisia and Morocco, Bouteflika spoke harshly prior to the referendum: "We have suffered bitterly from the actions of some brothers during the recent decade. For those who are surprised [by my criticism], don't be. Algeria has been asleep for the past two decades and is now awake."
But in speeches after the referendum and at the UN General Assembly session in New York, the Algerian leader toned down his criticism, stressing instead the need to rebuild the AMU, "not based on fraternal emotions, but on balanced and mutually beneficial interests."
Bouteflika had earlier criticised Algeria's neighbours for signing separate deals with the European Union (EU) while ignoring Algeria's interests. Responding to the charges, Tunisian Premier Hamed Karoui said that the EU preferred to deal with the AMU as a whole, rather than with "separate entities". "For us, the AMU is an indispensable strategic option that must be accomplished sooner or later," Karoui added.
"Rebuilding the Maghreb Union is a civilised option and a national priority with strategic dimensions," Bouteflika said later at the Foreign Affairs Council in New York, echoing the language used by the prime ministers of both Morocco and Tunisia during their meeting last week in Rabat.
Analysts said Bouteflika seemed intent on driving a hard bargain for Algeria which he described as being treated as "a cash cow" by its neighbours which have benefited more than Algeria from open-door economic policies. But they noted that Algeria has been embroiled in an Islamist rebellion which has ravaged its economy and cost more than 100,000 lives.
Economists estimate that Morocco had lost an annual $2 billion in trade with Algeria since the closure of the border in 1994, after a number of suspected Algerian militants attacked a hotel in southern Morocco. Tunisia receives hundreds of thousands of Algerian tourists a year.
Some North African officials and observers suspect that Bouteflika's outbursts regarding Morocco providing haven for Algerian militants were mainly for domestic consumption in the run-up to the referendum, and this explains the muted response.
"If these attacks could strengthen President Bouteflika's hand, then we are willing to help," a senior Moroccan said. In fact, Morocco and Tunisia were among the first to congratulate Bouteflika on the new popular mandate.
In his letter of congratulations to Bouteflika, King Mohamed VI avoided mentioning the latest chill in the two countries' relations, while top government officials sought to play it down, describing it as a "passing summer cloud".
Moroccan Interior Minister Driss Basri went a step further, offering to examine the charges and discuss them with Algerian officials in a "frank and cordial" atmosphere.
The Moroccan media that have in the past used such occasions to launch bitter attacks against Algeria and scratch the raw wound of the Western Sahara dispute, have been banned from any comment critical of Bouteflika or Algiers, officials said.
The latest episode in the two countries' often tense relations occurred after a report in an international news agency quoted Moroccan sources as saying that authorities had arrested nine Algerian Islamists suspected of taking part in a massacre near a border town in which 30 people had their throats cut.
Moroccan officials quickly denied the reports, saying its 1,200-km border was well protected, that Rabat had not detected any infiltration by Algerian rebels and has not allowed and will not allow such activities in the future.
But many diplomats and analysts in both capitals question the timing of these reports when the two countries are set for rapprochement, adding that such matters are usually better solved through discreet diplomacy.
Some talk of "powerful circles" in both Rabat and Algiers, which are acting to torpedo any attempt to mend fences (an apparent reference to the military institutions) which might have leaked the arrest report. "Some generals who control food imports in Algeria are against reopening the border. Others are genuinely worried about drug trafficking," a diplomat told Al-Ahram Weekly. "In Morocco, there are still some powerful circles who link any improvement in relations to Algerian concessions on the Polisario Front."
In recent warm exchanges between Bouteflika and the late King Hassan and his eldest son and successor, Mohamed, the thorny Western Sahara issue has not been raised.
Bouteflika says that the issue is now in the hands of the UN which has brokered a referendum for July 2000 to decide the fate of the territory -- whether it is incorporated into Morocco which controls most of it, or becomes independent as sought by the Polisario Front.
Analysts said both countries ignored the long-simmering dispute when they set up the AMU in 1989 along with their neighbours, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. They believe that the latest tension between Algeria and Morocco would be resolved before the referendum, which would allow the two countries to refocus their efforts on building more equitable ties with the EU as both sides prepare for a free-trade zone by the year 2010.
"I hope that tempers will cool down so that we can remove any obstacles in our path," Moroccan government spokesman Khalid Alioua said recently. "The things that unite us are far more than what separates us," he added.
