Zawaya

Civil society also needs to help build a unified Maghreb

By: Salah Zeghidi

It’s been more than twenty years since the establishment of the Arab Maghreb Union, that comprises Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania…

The Maghreb leaders established this Union under circumstances that were characterized by two major factors that had definitely played a crucial role in its creation. The first factor is the blockage of common Arab projects after the deepening of divisions and crises between Arab countries. This emerged very clearly after about a year and a half, when Saddam Hussein’s regime launched a massive military attack against the State of Kuwait, and announced its abolishment and annexation by Iraq.

This event led to a critical situation on the Arab arena, as several Arab countries, particularly Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria, were obliged to send their troops alongside the American army to liberate Kuwait from Saddam’s occupation…

This situation made the Maghreb people in general, including their leaders, focus on the Maghreb region and direct their attention to what can be achieved by the five countries that have common interests on several fronts.

The second factor is the rapid progress achieved by the European Union that took huge steps in terms of convergence and coordination, especially on the economic and commercial levels…

At that point, the need to unite the countries of the Maghreb region became more urgent than ever, at least in order to be on equal terms with this huge newborn…

These were the circumstances under which the Maghreb Union was born. More than twenty years have passed, so what has been achieved since then? Reality speaks: Apart from sending several committees, holding hundreds of meetings, mobilizing a number of high-level officials and appointing them in offices that no one knows anything about; the Union is merely on paper, and no critical steps have been taken yet.

The Maghreb countries deal with Europe individually, with each one of them trying to defend their own interests. The situation has even become bittersweet now as it seems that the EU is more eager than the Maghreb leaders themselves to see the countries of the region unite.

It has become necessary to realize that history does not wait nor stop, and the fate and future of the Maghreb peoples are being jointly built now, not tomorrow… The time has come for all the parties to realize that the issue of the Sahrawi people should quickly have a fair solution (can’t the solution be a solid confederation between the Moroccan State and the Sahraoui State?), so that this issue won’t remain a major obstacle – as is the case now – in front of all attempts to make serious progress towards the establishment of the Maghreb Union…

On the other hand, is it reasonable to blame the political leaders for their failure in building the Maghreb Union, and ignore the fact that political forces, trade unions, and associative and cultural movements also play a role that can be crucial in bringing the region’s peoples together, fostering the spirit of unity and putting pressure on the ruling regimes?

How can our political parties have strong relations with similar parties in Europe, while similar ties between Maghreb parties themselves are non-existent? Where is the unification of trade unions that was announced twenty years ago at the heart of the Trade Union Confederation of Arab Maghreb Workers, apart from some seasonal events, and some offices and officials with high salaries and interesting benefits at the Headquarters located in the Tunisian capital? And if we exclude the efforts made by the Maghreb feminist movement to coordinate between its components, where are the interaction and cooperation between cultural officials from the five countries? Is it logical that Tunisians do not watch Moroccan or Algerian plays (outside of regular festivals), and vice versa? And where are joint Maghreb seminars for thinkers and intellectuals about the major issues that our societies have to face?