Morocco and Algeria: Hand in hand against terrorism in African Sahel

Shaimaa Hafezy

Terrorist groups continue to be active in the Sahel and Sahara region of Africa, which confirms the importance of strengthening cooperation between the countries in that region, especially Morocco and Algeria, as Moroccan officials demand the need to cooperate more with Algeria in this regard.

The Kingdom of Morocco managed to dismantle a total of 2,009 terrorist cells from 2002 to 2020, arresting more than 3,535 people and thwarting more than 500 acts of sabotage.

Morocco has been directly involved in confronting terrorism and its repercussions since 2003 after terrorist bombings hit the northern city of Casablanca, which left 45 people dead. It also relied on a preemptive policy, supported by parallel legal legislation, which resulted in the dismantling of several terrorist cells and operations.

Morocco faces the threat of terrorism in the Sahel and Sahara region, a vast area that lacks adequate security monitoring, which has led to the spread of terrorist groups there. The two main terrorist organizations, al-Qaeda and ISIS, have found the Sahel region a fertile environment, and since then, several terrorist organizations have been active in the region, some belonging to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and others with Al Qaeda.

Calls for cooperation

Given the dangerous nature of these organizations, regional security cooperation is necessary to eliminate the threat, which confirms the need for Morocco to cooperate with Algeria in facing the threat of terrorism, because the low level of cooperation is an obstacle to all efforts made by the countries of the region and other global powers to combat terrorism.

Cooperation between Morocco and Algeria would facilitate combating terrorism and form a regional economic power within Africa and a pressure force in front of other regional powers to confront the incursion of terrorist groups into the Sahara region.

The strengthening of cooperation between the two countries may require mediation to solve the problems existing between them, and Russia is one of the candidate countries in this regard due to its strong relationship with both Algeria and Morocco.

Strengthening the role of parliamentarians in combating terrorism

In February 2021, Algeria participated in a meeting organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, in cooperation with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, on the topic of “Challenges after the regional defeat of ISIS”.

The meeting came within the framework of enhancing the role of parliamentarians in combating terrorism and their contribution to increasing the capacity of states to follow up, integrate and rehabilitate people with potential ties to terrorist groups, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of laws and legislation related to eliminating extremism.

During the meeting, Algeria stressed that combating terrorism requires cooperation and coordination, in addition to modernizing punitive, deterrent and precautionary measures, which the Algerian state is doing with the support of both chambers of its parliament.