Massive expulsions of sub-Saharan migrants from Algeria to Niger are currently taking place," announces "Alarme Phone Sahara," a Sahel-Saharan platform created to rescue stranded exiles in the desert.
Director of Moroccan Archives, Mrs. Bahija Simou, with supporting documents, reiterated the Moroccanness of the Sahara, both southern and "eastern", during a conference held on February 22, 2023, in Rabat. In the next articles, I will focus on the "eastern Sahara" only, meaning the Moroccan regions that are currently attached to Algeria.
The consultation of French archives regarding what colonial circles of the time then referred to as the "Question of the Borders," more precisely, the "regions of eastern Morocco that France wanted to attach to its Algerian possession," is clear.
In my previous column, I showed that, for the French authorities in the Protectorate, the belonging of the "Eastern Sahara" to Morocco was evident.
A good understanding of the Sahara issue requires a holistic approach due to the myriad of problems that define it:
Just like the United Nations or the US Department of State, the European Union (EU) has its own terrorism list. It includes entities, groups, or organizations involved in terrorist acts and subject to restrictive measures, sanctions, or prosecution. The EU regularly monitors these entities, at least every six months, as they operate around the world.
The resolution of the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara is only a matter of time, provided that the main party to this regional dispute, namely Algeria, participates in good faith in the UN roundtable process, in accordance with Security Council resolution 2602.
"The separatist movement of the 'Polisario' is a 'real time bomb' for Algeria," said political analyst Mustapha Tossa estimating that for decades, this 'losing cause' has absorbed a large part of the Algerian economy.
Neocolonialism is not only the reproduction of colonial discourse, but a systematic method that requires packaging the tendency to "civilize the peoples of the South" in the envelope of universal values such as human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
Algeria's role in the Western Sahara issue is a matter of debate, but it is widely acknowledged that Algeria cannot be seen as a mere observant party to the conflict, but rather as a direct party. There are several reasons for this.
The Algerian government use of bots and fake news to attack opposition groups on social media is a fact and a state doctrine, Facebook had taken down multiple accounts linked to the Algerian Intelligence for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior, which included the use of bots to manipulate online discourse.
