Hopes of Openness between Rabat and Algiers
Mohammad El Ashab Al Hayat - 09/05/08//
Through the language of diplomatic signals, Rabat has made a leap forward by confirming its openness to dialogue with Algiers. After the diplomacy of statements has been partially exhausted, now comes the turn of diplomatic statements to try their luck at melting the ice of disputes. The meeting between Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri and a high-ranking diplomat at the Algerian Embassy in Rabat only means a higher-cost embarrassment, and a message to a precise address, at a time more suited for reflection. The call by the Moroccan Parliament to the Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to renormalize relations between the two neighboring countries only reflects the Moroccan popular and official obsession with political, economic and social necessities, thus the urgent need to open a new page in Moroccan-Algerian relations.
Beyond these necessities which each side can formulate according to its premature, public or concealed stances, it is no longer acceptable for two neighboring countries, with common ethnic and geographical ties, and a common destiny, to continue to ignore regional, international and bilateral facts that are imposing themselves on everyone. This is perhaps the first time that the margin of maneuver becomes equally narrow for both Algeria and Morocco, as their diverging political choices and disputes, which were crucial during the Cold War era, have turned now into a heavy burden. Whether concerning the implications of the abnormal situation at the Maghrebine level, which has led to a relapse in efforts for a Maghrebine construction; or at the humanitarian level, as the sealed borders hinder the free movement of persons and goods, as well as the influx of interests, there are wagers that can no longer be overlooked. Moving beyond the countries' abilities, these wagers aim at rearranging the regional situation in North Africa on new bases. Of these is the reflection that the war on terror and the attempts to counter security deterioration, illegal immigration, smuggling and organized crime, are conditioning the positions of the European partners and of the US.
A strategic choice of such importance, from the point of view of those partners, cannot be delayed and does not allow wasting time in disputes seen as marginal, and of lesser significance than defending vital interests. The problem with some of the smaller players is that they imagine that the contradictions which had previously encouraged them to maintain the stsruggle, stimulate it and provide it with the means to survive, still stand, or at least may still be used to reinforce this or that position. Yet, this is not that easy. Many things, concepts, and visions have changed, while clinging to old contradictions is no longer a policy of its own.
Among the new factors is that Washington, for example, which used to be euphoric about the constant supply of Algerian natural gas and the alliance with Morocco, no longer measures its strategic interests on the basis of such tradeoffs. Gone is the time when Moroccan phosphate equated the alliance with Algeria for the USSR. The stance of neighboring Spain has also changed. Previously interested in fishing on the Moroccan coast and promoting the political stances concerning the Tindouf refugee camps, Spain is now seeking stability in the region. Similarly, French President Nicolas Sarkozy went on to defend his country's traditional zones of influence in North Africa, without equating with funds his political stance in support of Rabat in the Western Sahara issue. No side seeks to recreate tension in this regional space specifically, as the lesson has been learned after experiments in Arab and African maps. What is most feared by ancient as well as modern magicians is that their magic be turned against them. For there are new equations today controlling the formulation of policies, which all but break with the past.
As it is Algeria's right to defend its choices and commit to the policy it sees as adequate for its ambitions, Morocco similarly has the right to defend its interests. However, the difficulty inherent in the new equation is that the priorities of the two neighboring countries are no longer in a position to contradict the arrangements of the big players. Nevertheless, they would be able to achieve much more by acquiring the components of free choice. To this end, a new alliance must be forged between Morocco and Algeria, an alliance that would return them to the forefront of influence in a wider dialogue with their various partners.
Those renewed hopes have now taken on the form of an official dialogue. It does not matter that the messages need time to be decrypted. What is important is that they were exchanged with a greater degree of balance and responsibility, and not in lost time
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