ALGERIAN PATRIOTS - ENGLISH

French media coverage of Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez’s mid‑February visit to Algeria largely framed it as a practical, security-first step —a move designed to cool tensions after an extended diplomatic freeze and what commentators described as one of the sharpest crises in bilateral relations in years. Most outlets emphasized the technical nature of the trip: restoring working channels, reactivating operational coordination, and tackling concrete files that had stalled amid political friction. Yet in Franco‑Algerian relations, “technical” seldom means apolitical. If anything, the choice to proceed through the security track is itself a political signal: when the strategic relationship is blocked at the top, states reopen the “functional basement” first —services, coordination mechanisms, and administrative dossiers—because it produces results while minimizing symbolic costs and domestic backlash. In short, the security lane is often the safest route to a controlled thaw without ...

Since its return to the African Union, Morocco has multiplied grandiose announcements meant to illustrate a renewed pan‑African ambition. Yet these projects, often presented as engines of South‑South integration, struggle to move beyond the realm of communication and end up resembling one another in their lack of concrete implementation. Among these initiatives are: – the promise to build a capital city for South Sudan; – the Nigeria–Morocco gas pipeline project; – an Atlantic access corridor intended for Sahel countries; – and an electric cable supposedly meant to link Morocco to the United Kingdom, even though the country remains structurally dependent on electricity imports from Spain. In this context, President Tebboune’s announcement of the effective start of construction works on the Algeria–Niger–Nigeria gas pipeline, on Nigerien territory, marks a major turning point and significantly reduces the scope of the competing project promoted by Rabat. General Tiani’s visit to Algiers...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

The consultations held in Madrid on the Western Sahara dossier—under direct U.S. stewardship—signal a qualitative shift in how the file is being managed: Washington is increasingly setting the pace while the United Nations recedes to an observer role, according to convergent coverage from Spanish, regional, and international outlets.  1) An unprecedented framework: Washington “leads,” the UN observes Multiple reputable outlets report that on February 8, 2026 , a closed‑door meeting took place inside the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, gathering four high‑level delegations—Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and the Polisario Front—with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura present more as an observer than as the driver, while U.S. officials Massad Boulos (special representative for Africa) and Michael Waltz (U.S. ambassador to the UN) ran point. The Madrid session followed a first, secret 48‑hour contact in Washington roughly two weeks earlier—an unmistakable sign that the U.S. has moved from “facilitator...