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.
Algeria has created from scratch the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, sponsored the creation of the polisario and provided it with political, diplomatic, financial and military support, to fulfil its geopolitical whims.
The remarks were made by French Lawyer Jerôme Besnard at a conference on Moroccan and Serbian experiences in the defense of territorial integrity and national sovereignty, held in Belgrade on Tuesday.
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.
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.
Algeria has a long history of political turbulence and authoritarianism. After gaining independence from France in 1962, the country was ruled by a single party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), until the 1980s. Since then, Algeria has experienced periods of political liberalization and repression, with varying degrees of respect for democracy, human rights, and press freedom, while its constitution provides for the protection of human rights and the rule of law.
The mistreatment of sub-Saharan and Syrian migrants by Algerian authorities and racism against blacks in Algeria are persistent issues that continue to raise serious concerns. Numerous reports have revealed that migrants and blacks in Algeria are victims of discrimination, intimidation, physical violence, theft, and other forms of mistreatment by the authorities.
