Assabah: Sahara issue was fabricated by Algerian generals hostile to the union of the Maghreb

The Sahara issue was "fabricated" by Algerian generals hostile to the union of the Maghreb region, said former Algerian Premier, Abdelhamid Ibrahimi.

The Sahara is a former Spanish colony, retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under tripartite accords with Spain and Mauritania. An Algerian-backed separatist group, the Polisario, claims independence of these Moroccan southern provinces.

"The solution of the Sahara issue lies in the union," said Ibrahimi, who served as Algerian prime minister from 1984 to 1988, in an interview published Tuesday by Moroccan daily in Arabic "Assabah." This issue, he went on, is "the making of the Algerian military security," adding that "nobody in Algeria ignores the crucial role which the Algerian military security apparatus played and continues to play."

"While the world is heading towards the creation of regional groupings, it's inconceivable to see our region, which has suffered from colonial partitioning, drifting towards the creation of new entities," he deplored.

Touching on the Maghreb Arab Union (UMA), Ibrahimi said that Algerian Generals, "are solemnly hostile to the Maghreb Arab Union," with Khaled Nizar spearheading this drive.

Ibrahim recounts how Khalid Nizar, former defense minister, who has officially retired but who continues to wield the levers of power, told former President Chadli "I will never allow you to undertake whatever move aiming to create a Maghreban union. We are Algerians first and foremost."

Ibrahimi gave this interview to "Assabah," on the fringes of a conference held recently in Doha on "The future of the Arab Mashreq."