August 30th, 2010 by Jason

Writing at bitterlemons-international.org, Anouar Boukhars argues that Morocco and other Arab nations, “…purposefully perpetuate the political incongruence and economic ‘dissonance’ that is at the root of their failure…”. According to Boukhars, this “incongruence” has manifested itself in the Algerian and Moroccan positions regarding the Western Sahara. “Algeria’s policy has been stuck in perpetual tension between the military and the civilian branches of the government…”, with the civilian branch supporting compromise with Morocco and the military supporting Western Sahara’s claims of independence.  Even Algeria’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has changed positions on the issue in recent years. Morocco itself has also sent mixed messages regarding the territory, with Boukhars noting, “One historical figure in the region, who strongly supports the ‘Moroccaness” of Western Sahara, bluntly criticized what he termed the government’s ‘mischievous policy.’  Such actions, he said, only heighten mistrust of Morocco’s intentions and, unfortunately, undermine its credible autonomy proposal.” 

Posted in Algeria, Morocco, Policymakers |