Sahara : Algeria and Morocco criticize each other during the Non-Aligned Movement summit

The Republic of Azerbaijan hosted, Monday May 4, the 26th edition of the Non-Aligned Movement summit (NAM). The event, held remotely because of the coronavirus, was marked by a dispute between Morocco and Algeria over the Sahara issue.

During his intervention, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune addressed the Western Sahara issue, urging the «United Nations Security Council to convene a meeting, as soon as possible and adopt a resolution, ending all hostilities around the world, especially in Libya and in the occupied territories in Palestine and Western Sahara», Algerian daily El Moudjahid reported.

«Algeria is diverting the resources of its people to fuel regional destabilization»

It is, moreover, the second time that the Algerian president refers to the territorial dispute in less than five days. On Thursday, April 30, during a press conference, he categorically rejected the idea of resorting to external debts from the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank on the grounds that his country «would lose its sovereignty and would not be able to speak either of Palestine or of the Western Sahara question», he said.

At the summit, Morocco’s response was swift. In a speech, Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita «regretted that despite the current circumstances, a neighboring country continues to fuel separatism, violating the founding principles of the Non-Aligned Movement».

«This reference by the Minister followed Algeria's mention of the question of Moroccan Sahara during the virtual meeting of the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement», the Ministry wrote on its website.

Nasser Bourita took the opportunity to castigate the internal policy of the Algerian president, without ever citing him. «This country, instead of using its resources to improve the precarious situation of its population amid the Covid-19 pandemic, is diverting them to fuel regional destabilization», he added. Indeed, yesterday, the Algerian government announced that it would cut its 2020 operating budget by 50% because of the decreasing oil prices.