Moroccan- Algerian entente, key factor for Maghreban march, Algerian speaker says
Algeria-Morocco, Politics, 5/20/2000

Entente between Morocco and Algeria is a key factor in the consolidation of the march of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), speaker of the Algerian senate, Bachir Boumaaza said Saturday.

"Entente between the two countries means that a major part of (Maghreban) edification is achieved, and divergences (between Rabat and Algiers) do not encourage the grouping," Boumaaza told Moroccan L'Opinion daily.

UMA --set up in 1989 by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania-- has so far been unable to take off as a full-fledged regional grouping, mainly due to Algeria's direct involvement in the Moroccan Sahara issue.

Boumaaza also blamed the delay in materializing the Maghreban integration project on an inefficient "methodological approach that should be reconsidered."

"(The UMA countries) should set in frankness a balance-sheet, identify problems by special commissions that will submit their results to the political authorities, which will find adequate solutions," he said.

Boumaaza visited Morocco recently and was received by King Mohammed VI.

Touching on relations between Morocco and Algeria, Boumaaza said the atmosphere between the two countries "is not ideal, but it is not catastrophic, as some wish to pretend." "What is important is to show a political will so that these relations evolve in all fields to give our two peoples more security, peace and progress," he said.

The speaker said his country's standpoint on the Sahara issue is "unequivocal." Algeria backs the Houston accords within the frame of the United Nations settlement plan, he said.

The Houston accords, concluded between Morocco and Polisario under the aegis of former US secretary of state James Baker, set criteria for the identification of would-be voters in the self-determination referendum, the U.N plan to hold to decide whether the Sahara sets up on its own, as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario, or remains part of Morocco.

"Algeria strives for the acceptance of the (Houston) Accords and will respect without reserve the outcome of the issue," Boumaaza said. "In this sense, Algeria's position is identical to Morocco's,' he said.

Previous Stories:
  London hosts multi-partite meeting on Sahara   (5/15/2000)
  Morocco, Algeria call for inter-arab reconciliation   (5/10/2000)
  Maghreban states' development goes through unity   (5/10/2000)

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