Development Assistance of the Rural Maghreb II

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Development Assistance of the Rural Maghreb II

• The Arab Maghreb Union

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The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU)

• The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) encompasses five
  North African countries (Algeria, Libya,
  Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia) that have strong
  historical, cultural, and language affinities.
• Seat of Secretariat Rabat, Morocco
• Official languages Arabic
• Type Trade block
• Membership 5 Arabs states
• Leader Secretary General Habib Ben Yahia

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The Arab Maghreb Union

• The first Conference of Maghreb Economic
  Ministers in Tunis in 1964 was established to
  coordinate and harmonize the development plans of
  the four countries as well as intraregional trade
  and relations with the EU. However, for a number
  of reasons, the plans never came to fruition. It
  was not until the late 1980s that the parties got
  together again.
• Finally, on February 17, 1989 in Marrakech, the
  Treaty establishing the AMU was signed by the
  Heads of State of the five countries.
  
• As of May 1997, there have been a total of 37
  Maghrebi conventions.
  
• The main objectives of the AMU Treaty are to
  strengthen all forms of ties among Member States
  as well as to introduce gradually free
  circulation of goods, services, and factors of
  production among them.

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The Arab Maghreb Union

• Common defense and non-interference in the
  domestic affairs of the partners are also key
  aspects of the Treaty. It highlights the broad
  economic strategy to be followed, namely, the
  development of agriculture, industry, commerce,
  food security, and the setting up of joint
  projects and general economic cooperation
  programs.
• Finally, the agreement provides the possibility
  for other Arab and African countries to join the
  Union at a later stage.
  
• Since 1990, the five countries have signed more
  than 30 multilateral agreements covering diverse
  economic, social, and cultural areas. However,
  only five have been ratified by all members of
  the union. These include agreements on trade and
  tariffs (covering all industrial products) trade
  in agricultural products.

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Regional Conflicts

• In the 1960s, Roger le Tourneau argued that
• The idea of North African unity was initially
  born as a reaction to the French control over the
  three countries of the Maghreb before becoming a
  constructive idea, it manifested itself mainly as
  a defense reflex, as the sum of a triple common
  feeling of French domination. The advocates of
  Maghreb unity will have to be patient and
  tenacious in order to succeed Otherwise North
  Africa will risk going through the same old
  problems, namely, internal fights, economic and
  technical stagnation.
• When they became independent, North African
  states failed to achieve a union of the Maghreb.
  Since the AMU was created in 1989, North Africa
  did not accomplish regional integration and the
  reasons that explain this failure are diverse.
  The Western Sahara conflict constitutes the main
  impediment to the building of the AMU.
• Yet, according to Habib Benyahia, former
  secretary general of the AMU, the
  
• Other organs of the AMU work and it mustnt
  be argued that the AMU is blocked it would be
  unfair for all the ones who work actively in all
  sectors for the achievement of this goal.

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Polisario Front (The Beginnings)

• is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the
  separation of Western Sahara from Morocco.
  
• In 1971 a group of young Sahrawi students in the
  universities of Morocco began organizing what
  came to be known as The Embryonic Movement for
  the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro.
  After attempting in vain to gain backing from
  several Arab governments, including both Algeria
  and Morocco, but only drawing faint notices of
  support from Libya and Mauritania, the movement
  eventually relocated to Spanish-controlled
  Western Sahara to start an armed rebellion.

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Polisario Front(The Beginnings)

• The Polisario Front was formally constituted on
  May 10, 1973 with the express intention of
  militarily forcing an end to Spanish
  colonization. Its first Secretary General was
  El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed. On May 20 he led the
  Khanga raid, Polisario's first armed action, in
  which a Spanish post manned by a team of Tropas
  Nomadas (Sahrawi-staffed auxiliary forces) was
  overrun and rifles seized. Polisario then
  gradually gained control over large swaths of
  desert countryside, and its power grew from early
  1975 when the Tropas Nomadas began deserting to
  the Polisario, bringing weapons and training with
  them.
• At this point, Polisario's manpower included
  perhaps 800 men and women, but they were backed
  by a vastly larger network of supporters.
  
• Algeria has demonstrated an unconditional support
  for the Polisario since 1975, delivering arms,
  training, financial aid, food, without
  interruption for more than thirty years. At the
  level of international relations, Algeria appears
  as a main actor and negotiator in opposition to
  Morocco since the beginning of the Western Sahara
  conflict.

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AMU After 1995

• Maghreban officials in Algeria for revival of
  Arab Maghreb Union
  
• ArabicNews.com, 18 May 1999. Officials from the
  five North African countries forming the Arab
  Maghreb Union (UMA) call for the revival of the
  union that they described as an inevitable
  strategic choice. Recent developments in the
  Maghreban region, especially the election of a
  new president in Algeria is seen as potential
  factors for the reactivation of the Maghreban
  process.
• Libyas Triki Speaks Of Progress In UMA Revival
  Efforts
  
• PANA, 22 July 2000. Significant efforts are
  being made to re-launch the five-nation Arab
  Maghreb Union (UMA). The UMA, which was created
  in 1989 by Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania
  and Tunisia, has fallen into a stalemate since
  1995, primarily because of differing positions
  between Rabat and Algiers over the Western Sahara
  conflict.

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AMU in the New Century

• Tunisia hails Morocco's decision to lift visa
  requirements for Algerians
  
• Tunisia-Morocco, Politics, 8/4/2004
• Tunisian foreign minister, Habib Ben Yahya,
  hailed Morocco's initiative, announced on Friday,
  to lift visa requirements for Algerian nationals
  wanting to enter Morocco, official sources
  said.Speaking at an annual conference of heads
  of the Tunisian diplomatic and consular missions,
  he said "we consider this decision as a
  significant progress that will contribute to
  increased consolidation of the bridges of
  rapprochement and human contacts between the two
  brotherly peoples in Morocco and Algeria.
• The visa requirement for Algerians was enforced
  in Morocco in 1994 after a group of Algerian
  nationals were found guilty of taking part in an
  attack against a luxury hotel in Marrakech.
  Algeria reacted by closing its land borders with
  the kingdom.The head of the Tunisian diplomacy
  said his country welcomes the Moroccan initiative
  as a move that will open a new page in relations
  between the two states and impulse the
  construction and consolidation of the Maghreb
  Union.
• The Maghreb Union (UMA) musters Morocco, Algeria,
  Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya. This regional
  grouping is suffering divergences, mainly between
  Morocco and Algeria, over the latter's support to
  the Polisario front that is claiming secession of
  Morocco's southern provinces, known as the
  Sahara. This former Spanish colony was retrieved
  by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accord signed
  with Mauritania and Spain.The UMA also praised
  Morocco's decision to grant Algerians visa-free
  access, said Libyan foreign minister (secretary
  of the General Popular Committee of Foreign
  Relations and International Cooperation),
  Abderrahmane Cholghom, who is chairing UMA's
  current session."The Union welcomes the move
  with satisfaction and consideration," he said,
  describing it as a new step towards enhancement
  of the regional grouping.

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AMU in the New Century

• Morocco, Tunis set to boost bilateral
  cooperation
  
• Tunisia-Morocco, Politics, 1/29/2005
• Moroccan and Tunisian premiers, respectively
  Driss Jettou and Mohammed Ghannouchi, reiterated
  in Tunis Friday strong determination to boost
  bilateral cooperation in various realms.-
  Co-chairing the 12th session of the
  Moroccan-Tunisian high joint Commission, the two
  officials underscored the need to intensify trade
  exchanges, promote investment flow, develop
  partnership and joint projects and strengthen
  contacts between businesspersons of the two
  countries.- The Commission's meeting, they said,
  enables both parties to assess the steps
  accomplished to date, and prospect ways to
  diversify cooperation.The two officials
  highlighted the role of economic operators in the
  development of cooperation and encouragement of
  initiatives intended to exploit the two
  countries' potentials.- They also deemed the
  free trade agreement concluded by Morocco,
  Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan part of Agadir
  Declaration an important asset to achieve
  economic complementariness.- Ghannouchi
  underlined, however, that bilateral trade is
  still below joint aspirations, noting that the
  volume of exchanges in 2004 was estimated at
  around US 139 million.- The Tunisian premier
  called for exerting more efforts to overcome
  existing difficulties and to boost the role of
  the private sector.Earlier this week, Tunisian
  president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, called for
  the development of the Moroccan-Tunisian
  cooperation, and emphasized the need to take
  advantage of all available means in order to
  enhance bilateral cooperation in all fields.