Morocco and Tunisia for revival of Arab Maghreb Union
Morocco-Tunisia, Politics, 3/17/1999

Morocco and Tunisia renewed on Tuesday aspiration to revive the Arab Maghreb Union that they described as a strategic option and a historic gain.

"Morocco's King Hassan II and Tunisia's president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali renewed their determination to revive the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) and to reactivate its action as it is an immutable and irreversible strategic option, a historic gain, and a civilizational project laying the bases for a common future," said a joint statement released here on Tuesday at the end of the two-day state visit president Ben Ali paid to Morocco March 15-16.

The two states pointed out that the Union will fulfill Maghreban peoples' aspirations to consolidate their brotherly ties, foster their solidarity and join efforts to take up challenges, the statement said.

The Arab Maghreb Union that was set up in Marrakesh in 1989 by Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, is paralyzed due to strained relations between Morocco and Algeria over Algiers' direct involvement in the Sahara issue and due to Libya's criticism of the attitude adopted by the other UMA members in the Lockerbie crisis opposing Tripoli to some Western countries.

Morocco and Tunisia also called for the lifting of the international embargo imposed on Libya as "one of the obstacles hampering the construction of the union," and a cause for leaving Libya outside the Mediterranean process.

The revival of the UMA was among the topics discussed in Marrakesh at the two rounds of talks held by King Hassan II and President Ben Ali.

"We are confident that in the coming months the Arab Maghreb Union will overcome the difficulties that have so far hampered its construction," King Hassan II had said, in an exchange of speeches during a dinner banquet hosted on Monday evening in Marrakesh in honor of President Ben Ali.

The Tunisian head of state on his part renewed his country's attachment to UMA as a strategic option, and pointed in an address he delivered on Tuesday before the Moroccan parliament that "it is most necessary to complete this (Maghreban) construction, to give it a new momentum and to revive its structures."

The revival of UMA is of much importance in the partnership between Maghreban countries and the European Union as well as in the prospect of the creation of a common arab market, he told the members of the two chambers forming the Moroccan parliament, the house of representatives and the chamber of advisers.

This was Ben Ali's first official visit to Morocco since he came to power in 1987.

Previous Stories:
  Tunisian president calls Moroccan and Tunisian parliaments to consolidate relations   (3/17/1999)
  Morocco and Tunisia hope Lockerbie issue will be settled   (3/16/1999)
  King Hassan II and President Ben Ali Upbeat over Future of Arab Maghreb Union   (3/16/1999)

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