Moroccan Sahara: The Recent Security Council Resolution is ‘Particularly Painful’ for Algiers – Saoud Al-Atlassi –

The recent UN Security Council resolution on the Moroccan Sahara was “particularly painful for the ruling class in Algeria”, said the writer and journalist Talaa Saoud Al-Atlassi. In an article published by the website “Machahid24.com” under the title “The pain and the delirium of the Algerian regime”, the journalist underlined that “the fever which seized the Algerian diplomacy after the shock of the recent resolution of the Security Council on the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara is endemic”. He, in this regard, recalled that the Algerian leaders had, at this moment, issued a statement full of anger against the Security Council, reflecting the level of “novice” of Algerian diplomacy, before opening the fire of “fake news” on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara. Noting that the Algerian press agency “APS” had distorted the remarks made by Italian President Sergio Mattarella on the Sahara issue during a state visit to Algeria, Al-Atlassi stressed that the Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, did not have much difficulty in extracting the denial concerning these lies spread by Algiers during a telephone call with his Italian counterpart, a few hours after the broadcast of the APS news story. The enraged ruling class in Algeria is rebelling day after day against the UN-led process aimed at achieving a peaceful solution to the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara, he pointed out. The latest maneuver by Algerian diplomacy, which was furious at the Security Council’s resolution, was the announcement of its mobilization, in coordination with South Africa, to encourage the African Union to “get involved” in the Sahara issue according to a “plan” involving African countries, said Al-Atlassi, adding that the characteristics of this plan were revealed by the joint statement issued after the “collusions” in Algiers between the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Algerian counterpart. These “collusions”, said the author of the article, were described by the Algerian newspaper “Al-Shorouk” as an opportunity to put this plan into action in order to counter the recent resolution of the UN Security Council and put pressure on the new personal envoy of the UN secretary general, Staffan de Mistura. “Whoever orchestrated this plan seems to be guided by a frenzy of anger and the emotion of the vanquished,” he said, recalling that the African Union enshrines, in its decisions, the exclusive competence of the UN in the settlement of the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara. The journalist noted that several allies of Algeria have been drawn to the realism of the recent UN resolution, such as Kenya recently. In addition, Mr. Al-Atlassi said that the Algerian Foreign Minister had tried to bring the conflict over the Moroccan Sahara to the level of the Arab League, which recognizes the Moroccanness of the Sahara, noting that the secretariat of the League was quick to dismiss Laamamra’s statements by denying any interaction with him. And to conclude that this is another proof that the Algerian regime lives under the influence of a fever and a delirium, to the point that it has become deaf to the calls of its people to dedicate itself to the resolution of its problems and to meet its needs, as well as to peaceful international appeals for the opening of the region to prospects of cooperation and progress.