That Algeria Proclaims Itself First Military Power in North Africa, Morocco Utterly Does Not Care – Writer-journalist –

The writer-journalist Talaâ Saoud Al Atlassi said that the fact that Algeria proclaims itself the first military power in North Africa means nothing to Morocco, which is not concerned by the competition game. In a column published Wednesday on the information site ”Machahid 24” under the title ”The delusion, ultimate weapon of the generals of Algiers against Morocco”, in response to an article published in the Algerian daily ”Achourouk” which revealed that ”successive reports of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) have shown that Algeria devotes a budget that is twice that of Morocco for the armament, becoming the first military power in North Africa”. While congratulating on an ironic tone Algeria for its self-proclamation as the first military power, the columnist emphasized that Morocco has no intention of competing for this rank and identity. He noted that the article of the daily ”Achourouk” illustrates the hostility of the generals of the Algerian regime and their hatred towards Morocco that is erected in a real editorial line in a press to orders, which summarizes the news in Morocco to disasters and other crimes quite ordinary in all societies and countries and this, in an effort to damage its image while the successes of the Kingdom are numerous and remarkable, including the recent organization of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. He stressed that the successes of Morocco always enrage the generals of Algiers who can not hide their annoyance, resorting to media cabals as a way of venting. He emphasized that Amar Belani is visibly very irritated by the number of consulates inaugurated in Laayoune and Dakhla, diplomatic representations that he considers as “ghosts” and a propaganda operation financed by the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thus carrying out the orders of his employers, very frightened by the multiplication of the inaugurated consulates. He added that Belani pretends to be unaware that the countries that have inaugurated consulates, mostly African, including Senegal, are courted by the generals of Algiers to vote with them in the African Union as well as the United Arab Emirates, a country that weighs heavily on political decisions at the global level and in the energy field. By targeting Morocco, Belani is also targeting many other countries that have relations with Algeria. This puts the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs in a delicate situation of wanting to extinguish the fire caused by Belani in his stubbornness to denigrate the achievements of Morocco, a Kingdom determined to promote a peaceful, serious, realistic, sustainable and mutually acceptable settlement of the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara, he wrote. The journalist pointed out, in this regard, that Belani is navigating in troubled waters, far from the process of peaceful settlement that now enjoys the support of the international community and not taking into account the democratic progress in Morocco and the effective participation of the populations in the southern provinces in all elections since 1977. For him, “he is only repeating himself by questioning the representativeness of the Sahrawi elected representatives, who have repeatedly met with the special envoys of the UN Secretary General and it is they who have also taken part in the negotiations and round tables held under the auspices of the UN in Geneva, in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council”. He said, however, that Morocco’s strength lies in the realism and credibility of its bold autonomy proposal presented in 2007, which was endorsed in previous Security Council resolutions until the adoption of the latest resolution, in the fall of 2021, which calls on the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sahara, Staffan De Mistura to consider the autonomy proposal as a basis for resolving this conflict. He stressed that “Morocco will triumph in the end, being attached to its legitimate right and strong of the support of the international community and the favorable course of history, while the generals of Algiers will only have to deal with the counting of their military arsenal and to absorb the disappointments and diplomatic and political failures”. He concluded that ”the Kingdom of Morocco is a civil and peaceful state that promotes peace in the region. Morocco is determined to establish a social and democratic state, without any pretension to rank in the region and in the world. A state at the service of the people, the objectives of development and peace in the world, without being hostile to its neighbors as is the case of the ‘state’ of the generals of Algeria, which is in fact only a military state”.