Speaking at a virtual conference organized by the New York City Bar Association (NYCBAR) on the subject, Elliott Abrams, former senior American diplomat and Assistant National Security Advisor to the White House (2005- 2009), once again defended Morocco by asserting that the current American administration should maintain and endorse the Proclamation adopted by its predecessor, given that the Kingdom of Morocco constitutes “a long-standing loyal strategic ally” of the United States. United of America.
Abrams, who is also a Middle East specialist at the US think tank Council on Foreign Relations, lambasted Algeria’s role in perpetuating the regional dispute over the Sahara, noting that if it were not for blatant Algerian support for the Polisario, this conflict would have ended a long time ago within the framework of the Moroccan autonomy plan.
He also said that for Algeria, the Sahara issue is neither more nor less an instrument to undermine Morocco, and that his support for the Polisario separatists fits into this scenario.
For him, unlike Morocco, Algeria has no national interest in the Sahara issue, in the sense that the Algerian power is instrumentalizing the Polisario as part of its hegemonic rivalry for the Kingdom.
Elliott Abrams also recalled that the territory of the Sahara has never historically been an independent state, and that the fact of wanting to “sever” it from the Kingdom of Morocco, as is defended by some, would only destabilize a historical ally of the United States and would contribute to instability in an already insecure region.
And to add, in this regard, that it is very difficult to conceive that an autocratic separatist movement like the Polisario can lead to a democratic state, as some argue.
According to him, it is therefore in the interest of the United States to oppose any attack on the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco.
