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In one week, Algeria erased ten years of Moroccan mirages in Africa

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Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline: Algeria locks down the project, the Nigeria-Morocco project fades away

The announcement made by Abdelmadjid Tebboune regarding the effective launch of the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline linking Nigeria to Algeria via Niger marks a major strategic turning point in the continent’s energy geopolitics. By specifying that construction on Nigerien territory will begin immediately after the month of Ramadan, the President has sent a clear and unmistakable signal: the competing Nigeria–Morocco project now firmly belongs to the past. It is worth recalling that Algeria has already completed the section of the route located on its own territory, bringing the infrastructure all the way to the Niger border at In Guezzam—demonstrating both its preparedness and its determination to bring this large-scale energy corridor to fruition. A strong political signal This presidential announcement is not just another technical statement. It comes at a moment of global energy realignment, as Europe searches for reliable alternatives to Russian gas and energy routes increasingly...

Opening up the Sahel: between Moroccan announcements and Algerian structural strategy

The question of opening up the landlocked Sahel states — primarily Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso — has become a clear arena of geo‑economic competition in North Africa. While Morocco has intensified a media campaign promoting an initiative to grant these countries access to the Atlantic through ports located in Western Sahara , Algeria is quietly developing a genuine logistical depth by linking its Mediterranean ports to Tamanrasset , transforming it into the Sahel’s gateway to the world. The essential question is not who raises the slogan, but who actually possesses the technical, political, and financial capacity to turn it into reality. I. The Moroccan Initiative: Appealing Rhetoric, Troubling Realities At first glance, Morocco’s proposal seems attractive: an African‑solidarity narrative that promises landlocked countries a path to the Atlantic. But a closer look reveals significant structural obstacles. 1. The Infrastructure and Financing Dilemma The initiative envisions connect...

Western Sahara - The Madrid talks: revealing a strategic misalignment

The recent discussions in Madrid on the Western Sahara question have brought to light a central element—rarely expressed with such clarity: a profound misalignment between American expectations and the content of the Moroccan document presented as a substantial evolution of the autonomy plan . This diplomatic moment acted as a revealer, exposing not only the limits of the Moroccan proposal but also the strategic ambiguities surrounding the international management of the dossier. Since the United Nations classifies Western Sahara as a non‑self‑governing territory, any political proposal is expected to meet a fundamental legal requirement: enabling the effective exercise of the right to self‑determination . Yet the tension between this principle and the Moroccan claim of sovereignty remains the core of the dilemma. 1. From 4 pages to 40 pages: a change in form without a change in substance? The Moroccan document presented in Madrid—expanded to roughly forty pages—was expected to meet...

Western Sahara: France's major strategic error in the face of a vital Algerian interest and Moroccan expansionist ambitions

France’s decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara is neither a mere diplomatic adjustment nor an act of pragmatic realism. It is a profound strategic miscalculation—one that reflects a flawed understanding of power dynamics in the Maghreb and a significant misreading of the Algerian state , its vital interests, and its stabilizing role in the region. In seeking what it perceived as a comfortable partnership with Rabat, Paris underestimated a fundamental reality: Western Sahara represents an absolute red line for Algeria , touching simultaneously upon its historical doctrine, its national security, and the regional balance of power in the face of Moroccan territorial ambitions . I. Western Sahara: Algeria’s Non‑Negotiable Vital Interest Contrary to the dominant European view, which reduces Western Sahara to a localized territorial dispute, Algeria regards it as an existential issue embedded in its post‑independence strategic doctrine. 1. A doctrinal constant root...

Western Sahara: Resolution 2797, the Autonomy Illusion, and the Reality of Sovereignty

Since the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2797 , the Western Sahara file has entered a new phase—one marked less by legal progress than by an intensified battle of narratives. Morocco, supported by certain Western diplomatic circles, has sought to portray its autonomy plan as a definitive, irreversible solution endowed with international legitimacy. Yet a careful reading of the resolution, combined with a strict application of international law , reveals a far more sobering reality: the conflict remains legally unresolved, and Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara has never been established.   Official and unofficial accounts of the Madrid talks converge on a fundamental point often obscured by Moroccan discourse: the United States failed to impose the autonomy plan as the sole outcome of the negotiations. The Sahrawi side , backed by Algeria, maintained a firm and principled stance centered on the right to self-determination as the cornerstone of any ...

The Figuig Dam: A Blatant Violation of International Water Law and a Deliberate Act of Water Warfare Against Algeria

Morocco’s decision to construct one of its largest strategic dams in Figuig , only a few kilometers from the Algerian border, is neither accidental nor driven by purely domestic development considerations. It is a calculated and hostile political act, aimed at establishing unilateral control over shared transboundary water resources , in flagrant disregard of international law and the most basic principles of good-neighborly relations. The so-called “Khenk Kro” Dam, with a storage capacity exceeding one billion cubic meters and an estimated cost of approximately 120 million US dollars, is officially presented by Rabat as a cornerstone of its “water security strategy.” In reality, it constitutes a direct threat to Algeria’s water, environmental, agricultural, and human security, particularly in the region of Béni Ounif, as well as Béchar and the wider south-western Algerian territories. From a legal standpoint, this project represents a serious breach of international norms governing s...