Blogging for the Maghreb Union
Although not Maghrebian in any way, I too committed to blogging for the Maghreb Union today. And having just finished working on a translation post for Global Voices with Hamza on the subject, I feel I’m a bit more knowledgable than I was well, yesterday.
The hope for Maghreb Arab Union started in 1956, after Tunisia and Morocco gained independence, but it wasn’t until 1988 that the first summit for the union came to fruition, and nothing was signed until the following year. However, the UMA has largely been a failure, mainly due to (as Youssef put it) bitch-fighting between Algeria and Morocco.
While I have only lived here for two years and don’t feel qualified to espouse on the Maghreb’s readiness for such a union, it is the fighting between Algeria and Morocco that makes me most sad. You see, I don’t like Algeria much. And I don’t like the way they’ve manipulated the issue in the Western Sahara. It is not my place to speak for the people who live there, the Saharouis, and what they want - at this point, they may very well wish only to be free. It is Algeria and the Polisario to which I direct my irritation; Algeria, seeing the conflict between Mauritania and Morocco for control of the Western Sahara, stuck its little nose in to assist the Polisario.
But regardless, Morocco’s refusal to hear a referendum on independence has been a fault as well. And all this fighting, for what? So that families from Oujda who want to see their relatives across the border have to fly out of Fez to Oran for a trip that might otherwise take 30 minutes? So that Algeria can sink even deeper into violence as they have for the past thirty years?
And so it is that I support at least some semblance of a Maghreb Arab Union. If only for the reopening of the Algerian-Moroccan border. If only for a resolution on the Western Sahara.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:25 pm
at least for that..
June 1st, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Hear, hear!
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:01 am
Je blogue pour le Maghreb…
Pour moi le Maghreb est avant tout ce que représente cinq millions de kilomètre carré par rapport aux 125 000 Km2 qui constitue la Tunisie. C’est arithmétiquement 40 fois plus d’espace de liberté quand notre pays ne représente plus qu’…
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:58 am
Maroco-Algerian conflict is only a part of the problem,
pan-arabism is one another. but the most important thing is that, maybe except of Mauritania, none of the other countries is making any progress in democracy. In 1988 none of the 5 rulers asked his people if they accept that union. And still today, is Qaddafi (or Benali) someone you’d like to get with?
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:03 am
as for the referendum, technically, it’s impossible to hold because it’s incredibly difficult to state who is Sahrawi and who is not. everybody knew that and yet they pursued it.
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 am
[…] Je blog pour la liberté au Maghreb par Khanouf C’était dit pour un Maghreb uni par Angelic Blogging for the Maghreb Union par Taamarbuuta Un seul et grAnd Pays par Missarchi My take on the Maghreb par Maghrebi Maghreb […]
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:37 pm
[…] Je blog pour la liberté au Maghreb par Khanouf C’était dit pour un Maghreb uni par Angelic Blogging for the Maghreb Union par Taamarbuuta Un seul et grAnd Pays par Missarchi My take on the Maghreb par Maghrebi Maghreb […]
June 2nd, 2007 at 6:27 pm
as for the referendum, technically, it’s impossible to hold because it’s incredibly difficult to state who is Sahrawi and who is not. everybody knew that and yet they pursued it.
Xoussef, it never was impossible. It is not about who is a member of a Sahrawi tribe (in that case, most of northern Mauritania would also vote), but about who historically lived in the territory before 1975. That’s very possible to figure out, since almost all were registered with Spanish ID cards.
The UN (Minurso) finished making voter rolls in 1999. They’re ready and waiting since then, and if the Moroccan government would just agree to let the UN set up shop, the referendum could be held in a month from now. (Or say six months, if you want to add a couple of thousand people who’ve become 18 years of age since the registration was finished, and who as children or siblings of accepted voters should also be entitled to vote.)
Unfortunately, the Moroccan government now insists that the ballot must be changed instead, to remove the option of independence. That makes the whole exercise kind of pointless.
June 3rd, 2007 at 12:12 am
Maghreb united
Merci d’avoir contribuer à cette initiative…
June 6th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Alle’s right (as usual). Morocco and Polisario both quibbled after the registration process, but only Morocco actively disrupted it by changing its mind and importing its own voters.
June 14th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
hold on guys
as khelli henna ould errachid why the referendum is difficult even impossible to organnize beacuase it is not fair
what is the difference between sahrawis living in layoune and dhakhla and those supposed to be algerians livong in tindouf ? no difference this is the same People
why not organise a referendum including all sahrawis from south and south west algeria and mauritania