Why—and How—Algeria Should Make Peace with Morocco

In which a conflict is summarized, and an exit strategy offered

I’m writing from a rooftop room in Saidia, Morocco. My third-floor perch offers a soul-stirring view of the seaside mountains of Algeria. At night I can see the lights of cars from Marsa Ben M'Hidi, the Algerian coastal town across the Kiss River from Saidia, crawling up the mountain road to Adjeroud. When the ripe full moon hangs low over the Algerian mountains, the ascending car lights look like they’re heading into lunar orbit.

But though Algeria is right across a mostly-dry riverbed, Moroccans who want to visit relatives there might as well try flying to the moon. The guarded, barbed wire wrapped border has been closed since 1994.

Admittedly the moon may be slightly less accessible than Algeria. One can fly, or take a ferry, from Morocco to Spain or France, then travel by plane or boat to Algeria. But many Moroccans find it difficult to get a Spanish or French visa. So traveling just a few kilometers across the border can be an arduous exercise, requiring two Mediterranean crossings, considerable expense, and plenty of paperwork. As a practical matter, most Moroccans have given up visiting their Algerian relatives, and vice-versa.

Unlike many national borders, the Moroccan-Algerian border does not separate two culturally-distinct nations. Maher Mezahi, an ethnic Algerian, observes: “In terms of customs, culture and language, western Algerians have much more in common with Moroccans than they do with Algerians on the other side of the country.” And of course all of western and central North Africa, from Mauritania to the Egyptian border with Libya, enjoys roughly the same culture and could easily be one big nation.

So of all places on earth to put a border, this is one of the stupidest. And given the Euro-colonialist penchant for drawing stupid borders, that’s saying a lot.

Here in Morocco, virtually everyone would love to see diplomatic ties restored and the Algerian border opened. The Moroccan government has repeatedly expressed its ardent wish to mend relations with Algeria. But Algeria won’t reciprocate. Why not?

Lacking a deeply-rooted national identity, the military dictatorship in Algiers has spent decades making “hating on Morocco” part of what it means to be Algerian. The Algerian authorities wouldn’t even let journalists cover Morocco’s amazing World Cup run. Sometimes the Algiers-inculcated Morocco-hatred turns lethal, as it did last August, when Algerian border guards shot two Moroccan jet skiers to death for the crime of running out of gas and drifting into Algerian coastal waters.

Moroccans and their government bear no equivalent hatred toward Algeria. You can verify this by listing to the two respective national radio networks. Here in the Beni Snassen region of eastern Morocco, we can tune in to Algerian state radio and listen to the obligatory anti-Morocco fulminations and sadly shake our heads. Across the border, Algerians can likewise listen to Moroccan radio—and notice that it is completely free of anti-Algeria invective.

What’s fueling Algiers’ hatred of all things Moroccan? The short answer: A territorial dispute. Algeria has spent decades trying to take over what Moroccans consider the Moroccan Sahara. To that end, Algiers has wasted tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars creating its catspaw Polisario mercenary force. (The resource-rich Moroccan Sahara, whose indigenous population of desert nomads was around 80,000 when Algeria started pushing the pipe dream of independence, is obviously far too small to ever be an autonomous nation-state; it will always be dominated by or incorporated into a larger and more powerful neighbor, and Algiers has long coveted that role.)

But now, it’s a done deal: Algeria gambled on trying to bite off the Moroccan Sahara, and it lost. The sparkling city of Layounne, the capital of the Moroccan Sahara, is not going away. The hateful invective, the closed border, the refusal to mention the Moroccan soccer team, the slaughter of jet-skiers—these are all the petty acts of a loser who can’t admit failure. Algiers is deep in the hole of the sunk cost fallacy, and it seemingly can’t stop digging.

Offering Algeria an Exit Strategy

So what’s the exit strategy? Admit you’re wrong? That worked for John F. Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs—for a few years, anyway. But it’s unrealistic to expect Algeria’s leadership to pursue such an idealistic course.

Political leaders who back down feel the need to save face. If they concede something, they need to get something in return. What could Rabat offer Algiers to sweeten the bitterness of accepting the reality that the Moroccan Sahara is Moroccan?

Two ideas come to mind. The first is obvious and easy. The second is neither.

First, Rabat could ensure that the Sahrawi rebels who reintegrate are very well treated—and allow Algiers to take credit. The Algerians could be self-styled “protectors and guarantors of Sahrawi rights” while Morocco makes the “concession” of forgiving the rebels and even rewarding them for finally seeing the light. The Moroccans could vaunt their generosity and clemency, highly-regarded qualities in Islamic cultures, while the Algerians maintain that they are the ones who convinced Morocco to be so generous. Rather than abandoning the Polisario to a horrible fate, Algiers would be seen as stewarding the ex-rebels toward present rewards and a brighter future. The former rebels could even be awarded dual Moroccan-Algerian citizenship and be among the first to take advantage of peace between the two countries.

Secondly, and less easily, Rabat could cite the rise of extremism in Israel, specifically the escalating attacks on the al-Aqsa Mosque, as a reason to break relations with Tel Aviv, expel the Israeli ambassador—and let Algeria take some of the credit.

Algeria has spent almost three years lambasting Morocco for its December 2020 “normalization” deal with the widely-reviled Zionist entity. But Morocco made that deal under duress. Rabat felt that having the US recognize the Moroccan Sahara as Moroccan was the only way to guarantee Morocco’s territorial integrity. The Trump Administration, owned and operated by Netanyahu, insisted that if Rabat recognized Israel, the US would recognize Morocco’s claim to its Saharan territory. That promise, alongside the unspoken threat that if Rabat resisted it would be punished by a US tilt towards Algeria, essentially forced Morocco into an unwanted “normalization” with an entity that most Moroccans loathe.

But if Algeria stops pouring billions of dollars into its proxy attacks on the Moroccan Sahara, and instead accepts as a fait accompli that the Moroccan Sahara is Moroccan, there will no longer be much reason for Rabat to care what Washington or Tel Aviv think. The Sahara issue will be resolved.

Imagine: The leaders of Morocco and Algeria call a press conference. They announce a solution to the Sahara issue that makes both parties look good. And they announce that Morocco hereby officially revokes the Israel-Morocco normalization agreement, given the Zionist entity’s murderous extremism and its ongoing efforts to usurp and destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Islamic world’s oldest and greatest architectural monument. (If Israel ever returns to its senses, Rabat adds, normalization can be revived.) Algeria wildly applauds and brags that it helped convince Morocco to take this just and necessary step.

A Win-Win Deal

Morocco would lose some Israeli investments and American pats-on-the-head. Algeria would lose a convenient enemy and perpetual scapegoat. But those losses would be overshadowed by massive gains on both sides.

Opening the Moroccan-Algerian border would add billions to those nations’ GDPs and pave the route for the proposed Trans-Maghreb highway that “would link 55 cities, 50 million people and 22 airports from Nouakchott to Tripoli.” It would revitalize the Arab Maghreb Union, which is poised to become one of the world’s economic superpowers. And it would allow my in-laws in Oujda, along with other Moroccans and Algerians, to visit long-lost relatives—and enjoy a larger world of cultural and economic opportunities.

Imagine a joint Moroccan-Algerian soccer team making the World Cup finals…and maybe even winning it. Such dreams are not entirely outlandish. Together, the two countries have produced a bumper crop of stellar footballers.

Skin in the Game

So why do I care about a North African border dispute? In part because I hope to live the rest of my life in Morocco, and to see good things happen here. Someday, insha’Allah, I would love to follow the mid-Ramadan moon across the River Kiss, and pray tarawih prayers in a mosque in Marsa Ben M'Hidi.