Morocco's premier urges Maghreban leaders to end tensions in North Africa
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 7/18/1998

Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi called on Maghreban leaders to put an end to the crisis and tension prevailing in North Africa.

Youssoufi, who was speaking to Lebanese "As-Safir" daily, urged Maghreban leaders to put an end to the crisis atmosphere, open borders and make their relations more flexible.

The Prime Minister was hinting at the crisis between Morocco and Algeria whose relations soured in 1994 after Algerian-born French nationals perpetrated a terrorist attack against a luxury hotel in Marrakesh and which claimed the life of two Spanish tourists.

Morocco subsequently imposed a visa requirement for Algerians and Algeria retaliated by closing its land border with Morocco.

Youssoufi underlined that the development of the Moroccan internal market depends on the flourishing of markets in neighboring countries, Map reported.

"Our natural internal market is the Maghreban market" (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania), Youssoufi said.

He stressed that political divergences regarding Arab and international issues should not hamper the achievement of the maximum level of economic cooperation, the best weapon to face up the challenges of "ferocious competition" with Europe.

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania set up in 1989 the Arab Maghreb Union with the aim of achieving economic integration and taking up the challenges posed by other regional groupings.

However, the union's march towards integration has been handicapped in the few past years by the Algerian intervention in the Moroccan Sahara issue and by the U.N. sanctions imposed on Libya for its alleged involvement in the bombing of a U.S. plane over the Scottish village of Lockerbie in 1988.

"It would be wise for the leaders of the Arab Maghreb, particularly the Algerians, to grasp the need to change the present situation," Youssoufi said.

Touching on the initiatives addressed to Algeria since he was appointed Prime Minister earlier this year, Youssoufi said he is "not at all pessimistic with regard to the Algerian brothers." He added, "Their recent reactions are a positive signal."

Youssoufi launched repeated calls to Algeria to start a new page with Morocco through the opening of the borders and the suppression of visa requirements. However, the Algerians said they have so far received no concrete proposals in this direction and that they only knew about the Moroccan initiatives through the press.

"When the Algerians say they received no concrete proposal, it means that they are ready to examine such proposals," he said.

Asked whether the possible opening of borders would pose the fear of the infiltration of Islamist currents, which are active in Algeria, Youssoufi discarded any fear in this connection.

"We have never feared the Islamist current and we will not fear it today," he said before conceding "we fear it (the Islamist current) for the future, if we fail or if we are pushed to failure in our experience."

"In this case (failure), it would be very normal that a more radical opposition sees the light of day, in the form of Islamist current or other," he warned, Map reported.

He underlined that Morocco has never had "any complex regarding Islamism because we have always endeavored for democracy and we have succeeded to set up democratic institutions in the country: political parties, unions, associations and civil society."

The Prime Minister also voiced belief that Morocco's successful alternation policy will not fail to have an impact on the Maghreban and Arab environment.

"The evolution of things in our country will have an impact in and on the other Arab countries, because we form a sole people," he explained.

He noted that the Arab peoples have experimented with all kinds of regimes and ideologies. They are yet to experiment with the democratic ideology, human rights and allowing the population to have a say in managing public affairs, he said.

Previous Stories:
  Algeria hints at a solution to better relations with Morocco   (6/30/1998)
  False information to create tension between Morocco and Algeria   (6/4/1998)
  Algerian foreign ministry dismisses Moroccan accusations of obstructing desert referendum   (5/14/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search