Tour that highlights the consolidation of a New regional order amid a Russian challenge in Europe’s heart and a global energy crises. Antony Blinken, US Secretary-of-State, wanted to reaffirm that the Abraham Accords are valid and that Tel Aviv is a new player in the Maghreb. In troubled times, mediator between Morocco & Algeria At the gates of Europe regarding the question of Western Sahara.
In the Negev desert, representatives of the diplomats of the host country, Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Morocco staged the normalization of Tel Aviv more than a year and a half after the signing of the Abraham Accords – succesively signed by the United Arab Emirates , Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco and the State of Israel between September and December 2020. The antagonistic relationship withIran, a concern for Sunni Arab nations.It is the best glue to hold this diverse collection of countries together.
Far from Tehran in the Arab far West, Morocco has moved -after twenty-years without official relations – from a timid restoration of relations with Israel -announced via Twitter, by former US President Donald Trump during the throes his mandate – to an enthusiastic, dynamic, ever closer alliance. Since the support of the previous occupant of the White House – the Biden Administration has never rectified the decision – the dynamic and emboldened Moroccan diplomacy has done nothing but reap successes on the Saharawi front. After the support of the United States and Israel came Germany – which sealed last January with its support for the “serious and credible effort” of the Moroccan autonomy plan the reconciliation with Rabat after long months of rupture.
The Secretary of State traveled from the Negev to the coasts, in order to reduce tensions between Morocco and Algeria, after more than a decade of escalated tensions over the Western Sahara. NATO, the United States and the EU cannot afford to risk an armed escalation of tension in North Africa during the conflict in Ukraine. With the socio-economic situation in Maghreb deteriorating after two years of pandemics, a Sahel that was turned into a powder keg, and the need for a ceasefire, NATO, the United States and the EU cannot afford this. Algeria honors its hydrocarbon supply commitments to its north-bound partners.
Blinken’s visit is less than three weeks following the one made by Wendy Sherman to Rabat and Algiers. She tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Algerian authorities not to close Maghreb Europe. This was due to price escalation and European boycott of Russian gaz. Blinken will, predictably, try again. And the North African tour of Biden’s Secretary of State arrives, in short, less than two weeks after the Moroccan Royal Cabinet released the letter sent by the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez to King Mohamed VI that put an end to the bilateral crisis.
The Spanish public only knew about the letter five days after it was leaked to Spanish newspapers. It is the Spanish Executive’s defense of the “Moroccan autonomy Initiative as the most serious and realistic basis for resolving this dispute.” Spain was then a Spanish colony up until 1975. When comparing it with the latest State Department notes released on the occasion of Sherman and Blinken’s visits to Rabat, it is not difficult to imagine where Pedro Sánchez got the adjectives from. Both statements by the Biden Administration did not use superlatives in order to say that the Moroccan autonomy plan was “serious, credible, and realistic” and could be used to meet the aspirations for the people of Western Sahara.