Maghreb security threatened by Terrorism in the Sahara 

The threat of terrorism in North Africa has brought renewed interest in regional cooperation. The expansion of al-Qaida network (AQIM), a terrorist outfit born during the Algerian civil war and increasingly active across the Sahel region, may compel the major actors in the Western Sahara to come to terms with the new phenomenon that may go out of control to create havoc and instil fear in a vast territory stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.

Lack of security cooperation between Morocco and Algeria leaves al-Qaida to operate across North Africa’s borders with impunity, or access weapons, finances and auxiliary personnel with the same level of ease. Their activities and connections to related terrorist networks and cells in Europe and elsewhere could be seriously curtailed if Morocco and Algeria form a united front integrated into regional counter-terrorism operations and intelligence-sharing to also combat drug, hostage taking and people trafficking, contraband and illegal immigration.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is based in southern Algeria and it is an offshoot of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda claiming responsibility for a number of attacks and kidnapping of foreigners. The leader of AQIM is the Algerian, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, aged about 40, who was sentenced twice to death in absentia in Algeria, for the killing of 13 customs officers. He joined the ranks of the (GSPC) after having fought in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion of that country. AQIM was previously called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and decided to join Al-Qaeda in January 2006 after the US stepped in to help train Algerian security forces and draft new recruits. The new American policy to eradicate terrorism helped Algeria militarily to stem the rise of Islamic rebels within its territory. Algeria became a US strategic partner in the fight against al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and developed advanced military, security, political and economic ties with Washington. It has also harboured American military bases in the Algerian desert at Tamanrasset to train recruits in the fight against Islamic guerrillas and monitor and gather intelligence on their movements in the vast desert. In October 2009, the US re-designated the Algerian-based AQIM as a foreign terrorist organization. AQIM has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack near the French embassy in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott on 8 August. According to the Spanish daily El Pais, about sixty Europeans and North Americans were taken hostage in the Sahel region since 2003 and held prisoners between four and nine months after a ransom had been paid. In the six years since its last review in 2004, AQIM, has conducted numerous suicide bombings and other lethal attacks that have killed or wounded hundreds in North Africa, according to the US State Department. The most lethal attack to date occurred on 11 December 2007, when bombs exploded at the UN programme headquarters and the Algerian Constitutional Council, killing 42 people, including 17 UN employees. Washington is concerned that AQIM has broadened its area of operations outside of Algeria with increasing attacks in northern Mali, Niger and Mauritania.

“AQIM claimed responsibility for the June 2009 murder of an American NGO worker in Nouakchott, and the May 2009 murder of a British hostage in northern Mali. In December 2008, AQIM seized two Canadian diplomats working for the UN in Niger", said Ian Kelly, State Department spokesman.

As the Algerian Sahara has become a breeding ground for international terrorism, the US is increasingly anxious to persuade Morocco and Algeria to sort out their difference over the Western Sahara issue and start adopting common security strategy to put an end to the activities of insurgents and rebel groups in the Sahel region.

The Western Sahara conflict has poisoned relations between Morocco and Algeria since 1976 when the latter proclaimed “the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic” (SARD) and put an end to any hope of reconciliation despite mediation efforts from various quarters.

The conflict has lasted too long and has already cost many lives not to mention the material expenditure that could have been directed to much needed social and economic development of both Morocco and Algeria. Moroccans of all walks of life believe that their "Saharan cause" is worth virtually any sacrifice, be it human or material. In Algeria, the army controls the state and not the other way round as it is normal in democratic regimes. It is generally acknowledged that the power of the government depends entirely upon the army as its ultimate guarantor as was illustrated by the sacking of President Chedli Benjdid (1987-1991) after the cancellation of elections in 1990 the Islamist party was poised to win which eventually led to a civil war that cost the lives of over 200.000 Algerians in the 1990s. Furthermore, there exists no domestic pressure on the Algerian military leadership to change course as the Sahara issue serves its purpose when intense pressure is brought to bear by internal security considerations or political claim for the implementation of a genuine democratic process that would lead to change beneficial to the entire population of Algeria.

African Union Paradox

Paradoxically, if the ongoing UN-sponsored talks on the Sahara issue result in a political settlement, it will be deeply embarrassing for the African Union (AU) to have a member state that exists in name only. Therefore, the AU should recognise the dangers inherent in the current position of the SADR within the organisation and should tackle the issue head on before losing face. It should at least freeze the membership of the SADR until a political solution is found especially as increasingly more members have frozen or have withdrawn their recognition and the latest is Guinee Bissau.

The Sahara Desert represents an area bigger than the US, yet it does not make up a state but part of one. Therefore, there is the argument that should Western Sahara be turned into a state, it should not only encompass Atlantic Sahara but the whole Sahara from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Indeed, the inhabitants of this arid and vast territory represent tribes that have roamed the area for centuries and have not known any frontiers to their nomadic lifestyle. It could also lead to the creation of several Saharan states in Mauritania, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Sudan.

The Sahara imbroglio has become the most divisive issue preventing North Africans from achieving their sought-after unity and economic complementarity. Until the question is solved between Morocco and Algeria, there will be no unity for North African countries or a grouping that could prove vital in defence of their interest at international levels. Ali Bahaijoub