Morocco is pursuing its policy of permanent tension with Algeria. Less than a week after Algiers’ decision to sever diplomatic relations with Rabat, the Moroccan ambassador to the UN returned to the charge on Kabylia.
Omar Hilale, who was behind Algeria’s decision to sever relations with the kingdom, again lent the kingdom’s support to the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), which was classified as May as a “terrorist organization” by the Algerian authorities.
He accused Algeria, which supports the fight of the Saharawi people for their independence, of “forgetting that there are populations in their own country who claim to be able to benefit from this same right to self-determination”. Omar Hilale was speaking Monday at the seminar of the Special Committee for the decolonization of the Caribbean in Dominica, according to the report of the official Moroccan press agency.
The Moroccan ambassador to the UN responded to his Algerian counterpart Smail Mimouni, who reminded him on Friday at the same meeting that the issue of the decolonization of Western Sahara has “been and remains on the agenda of the ‘UN General Assembly, since 1963”.
This is not the first time that Hilale has publicly lent Morocco’s support to the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK).
On July 14, Morocco’s ambassador to the UN, Omar Hilale, gave member states of the Non-Aligned movement a note in which he proclaimed his country’s support for the right to self-determination of the “valiant Kabyle people.”
Algeria reacted on Friday, July 16 by condemning a “dangerous drift” and asked for explanations from Morocco.
“A Moroccan diplomat made serious statements, following which we summoned our ambassador to Rabat for consultation, and advised to go further, but no reaction came from Morocco”, lamented President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Sunday, August 8, in response to the “outstretched hand” of the King of Morocco.
Duality of Moroccan discourse
In his speech on Saturday, July 31, the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, completely ignored Algiers’ request. Instead of providing explanations on the call for the partition of Algeria, launched by his ambassador to the UN, he reiterated his demand for the reopening of the borders between the two countries and appealed to the Algerian president for the establishment of “serene” and “fraternal” relations between the two countries. His appeal will be described as “an alleged outstretched hand” by Algiers.
It was not until Thursday, August 26, two days after the announcement of the breakdown of relations between the two countries, for the head of the Moroccan government, Saad Edin El Othmani, to raise the issue. His answer illustrates the duality of the Moroccan discourse with regard to Algeria.
In an interview with Hespress, El-Othmani dissociated himself from the Moroccan ambassador to the UN, affirming that the note verbale presented by the latter “was not a political position, but a dialectical reaction”.
Less than a week later, the same Omar Hilale did it again, demanding the presence of the MAK at the meetings of the Special Committee on Decolonization.
