BY: Dr. Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The birth of the Algerian-Tunisian-Libyan tripartite initiative signals a shift towards pragmatic diplomacy. The emergence of this new regional entity demonstrates that in politics, as in life, action is always preferable to inertia.
Referred to as “The Carthage Agreement,” “UMA Redux,” or “Trio of Tunis,” observers were initially skeptical about the summit that brought together the Presidents of Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Many anticipated that the summit might not even take place.
However, April 22 marked the founding of a new approach. Next year, in 2025, will mark exactly 30 years since the clinical death of the UMA (Union of the Arab Maghreb) was acknowledged, and the UMA ceased to exist on the ground.
Back in 1995, the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Fillali, announced the freezing of the UMA. Since then, all UMA institutions have been deactivated, except for its secretariat, controlled by the Makhzen, and used as needed to legitimize actions through pseudo-UMA agreements.
For those who might have forgotten, in 1995, the Moroccan Foreign Minister Fillali sent a written notice to his UMA counterparts announcing the freezing of the Maghreb Union. Since then, citing the Western Sahara issue, the UMA has ceased to exist, with any Secretary-General retained being more of a Moroccan auxiliary diplomat than a Secretary-General of a functioning Maghreb Union.
Thus, the Carthage meeting essentially discussed the fate of a dead entity. Any practitioner would conclude that after such a deep and irreversible coma, an entity declared dead cannot be revived after such a prolonged cerebral death. The UMA is effectively in this state.
Ironically, Algeria, often held responsible for this episode, was the one to invite its Maghreb counterparts to consider an alternative path during the forum of heads of state of gas-exporting countries organized in Algiers last March. Tunisia followed suit by hosting the Tunis summit.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been forthright in his intentions for cooperation, both politically and economically, shaping the tripartite roadmap. He announced initiatives such as the creation of five free zones with Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Tunisia, and Libya, despite some governments displaying hostile attitudes.
For 30 years, the UMA has been a drain on member countries, with contributions, subsidies, and salaries of UMA employees going to waste. Algeria, taking the diplomatic lead, has supplemented its proposal with a pragmatic approach, focusing on urgent issues like common border security, combating irregular migration, and launching major joint investment projects in energy, cereal production, and seawater desalination, among others.
Joint working groups have been established to accelerate this projection, with an agreement signed to resolve the issue of common underground water among Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya in the northern Sahara region. This issue had been a source of latent conflicts between the three countries since their independence.
Now, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Kaïs Saïed, and Mohamed Younes Al-Manfi have rejected the morbid status quo of the UMA to embark on a resolute initiative that not only exists in the form of the G3 but also seals a strategic union to adapt to regional and international changes. The G3 is, therefore, a first step, an embryo to create an alliance of North African countries, which Mauritania will one day join.
Their shared aspirations will not go unnoticed by the European Union, the African Union, or professional meddlers, as this collective act of sovereignty establishes a proactive regional alternative. Whether one likes it or not, the Maghreb of action has succeeded the Maghreb of slogans.
Translated from: https://lalgerieaujourdhui.dz/le-g3-est-ne-a-carthage-le-maghreb-de-laction-succede-au-maghreb-des-slogans/
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