Sahara: A Trail in a Dark Courtroom

Chicago – For four decades, Moroccans have grappled with a conflict that is increasingly transforming into a dramatic and devastating obsession: a conflict nurtured in a dark room during a dark period where chaos, hypocrisy and hatred prevail over natural desires for peace and stability.

It is a conflict that marks the history of Morocco and Algeria with divisive confrontations and tensions causing their people pain, anxiety and shame.

Some of my fellow Moroccans and Algerians may see our interventions in Algerian political discourse as an attempt to pour more fuel on the fire that has been burning and intensifying since the early sixties of the 20th century. Of course their concern may very well be legitimate and justified. The region is in shambles, and its people continue to live in fear and apprehension. Unfortunately, we just can’t. We simply cannot let it go.

To those friends I say: our recent history clearly shows the significant support and aid our brothers and sisters in Algeria have received from the people across their borders. We fought their war of independence, and we carried on their message for freedom and liberation for years. We helped them take their first steps in their path and struggle for liberation with confidence and hope. Oujda, Rabat, Casablanca, Fez and other Moroccan cities were homes to many Algerian political activists; some of whom graduated from our universities and others who learned the basic skills of politics in our auditoriums and from our books and texts… What was their response in return? Merely the repetition of history filled with treachery and deceit.

Yes, treachery and hatred justifies their false claims and explains why most Algerians see the Almoravids; (a Muslim dynasty that ruled most of North Africa and a significant part of Spain from 1056 to 1147) as Algerian kings;  and see the iconic Moroccan Caftan to be of  Algerian origin. Here, I recall the tension raised between Morocco and Spain over the Moroccan island Laila.  I clearly remember the Algerian authorities’ reaction in support of Spain. It was obvious then that what motivates and nurtures this harmful directive in Algerian politics is their failure to wisely comprehend and come to terms with our shared history.

In a letter addressed to participants in an African seminar on the Sahara issue in Abuja, Nigeria, the President of the Republic of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika called for “a mechanism for follow-up and monitoring of human rights in Western Sahara”, which he claims has been struggling for independence for more than 40 years. Additionally, he states, “re-framing the powers of MINURSO would allow the United Nations to fully and perfectly play its role in monitoring and advancing human rights in Western Sahara and would also allow its agencies to mannerly complement its functions”.

In his letter, the  President forgot to mention that even an amateur journalist or  young human rights activist can list for him hundreds of documented instances of Algeria’s failure to respond effectively to its people’s needs and struggles for freedom of press and speech…

To President Bouteflika, we say: more than 125,000 members of Rohingya people in east Asia were internally displaced by the end of 2012 and are “described by the United Nations as being amongst the most persecuted communities in the world”. These people of Myanmar have lived in impoverished and extremely populated areas. They have suffered waves of oppression and genocide that continue to worsen their living conditions. These people are in dire need for your calls and concerns with human rights so they can satisfy their needs of food, drinking water, healthcare, shelter and protection.

To. President Bouteflika, we say: the Basque people; an ethnic group which traditionally inhabits an area along north-central Spain and southwestern France, have their own unique identity, language and cultural heritage. They have been demanding their rights of freedom and autonomy since the first articulations of Sabino Arana and his Basque National Party in the mid-19th century. This man, the founder of modern Basque nationalism, has inspired millions of his own people for their liberation from oppressive Spanish and French control of their lands and identity. Today, this writer that  the Basque admire most, may be in an urgent need of your advocacy so that he may  rest peacefully in his homeland and so that his people can live in dignity and honor…

To. President Bouteflika, who grew up in the streets of Oujda, I say: In the northeastern Himalayas, children still chant, sing and praise the beauty of the snow on the mountains of their homeland they call Tibet. This magical land in east Asia had maintained its independence and sovereignty for long decades until the invasion of China in 1953. Its spiritual and political leaders are still traveling the world to present and advocate their desire for freedom from the People’s Republic of China. You may choose to join the crowds in the dark offices of the United Nation and show Algeria’s commitment to human rights and values of justice. You may choose to hold the Tibetan children in your arms so they can feel the warmth of homes on their faces, have hope again in their hearts and be able to freely whisper their words in their Tibeto-Burman tongue…

To be continued…

This work is from “Sahara: A Trail in a Dark Courtroom,” a series of articles on Moroccan Sahara