Stars and Stripes
March 31, 2022

Blinken urges Algeria re-think on Russia, Western Sahara

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa Wednesday with appeals for Algeria to limit ties with Russia and look to improve relations with neighboring Morocco.

“The countries of North Africa and the Middle East have experienced themselves the consequences of Russia’s military campaigns before,” Blinken said, noting Russian interventions in Syria and Libya and the impact on energy and food security that the Ukraine conflict is having.

“The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to end this unprovoked and unjustified war,” he said.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has in the past referred to Russia as a “brotherly country,” and has maintained pressure on Morocco for its claim to the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, where Algeria backs independence fighters.

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Algeria has had close ties with Russia since its independence from France in 1962 and is a major purchaser of Russian weaponry.

It is also locked in a bitter dispute with Morocco over the status of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Algiers opposes a plan by Rabat to retain control of the territory while granting it semi-autonomous status.

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Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the Moroccan plan….Earlier this month, Algeria angrily recalled its ambassador to Spain after the Spanish government offered the same assessment an enormous departure from its earlier stance of considering Morocco’s grip on Western Sahara an occupation.

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[O]n Monday, Blinken had been in Israel’s Negev Desert where he and the Israeli foreign minister participated in a historic gathering with their counterparts from Arab nations, including Morocco, that have normalized relations with Israel.

Morocco, along with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, was one of the countries to fully normalize relations with Israel during the Trump administration’s push to negotiate the so-called “Abraham Accords,” in which the U.S. pledged significant support in exchange for such recognition.

For its part, Morocco won U.S. recognition for its claim to Western Sahara in return for its agreement with Israel.