Messahel Inspects Serbian Position On Western Sahara Issue
23-03-2018, 10:21 PM



Foreign Minister, Abdelkader Messahel, began on Friday a visit to the Balkans (southeast Europe), including Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia.
Algerian diplomat launched his visit on Friday from the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, the station that aimed at “re-establishing political dialogue and economic partnership between the two countries”, in the talks between Messahel and his Bulgarian counterpart, according to a statement that was issued by the Foreign Ministry.
It is known that Bulgaria has guaranteed the rotating presidency of the European Union since the beginning of this year, which helps the parties to put the relationships between Algeria and “Brussels” for the evaluation, while at the bilateral level a number of agreements are expected to be signed to support cooperation between the two countries in the field of archives and the abolition of persons’ movements.
Messahel’s second station will be Serbia, tomorrow Saturday, and the files that will be discussed, according to Algeria Foreign Ministry, will be regional and international issues, support for economic, commercial, scientific and technical cooperation, in anticipation of the 21st round of the Algerian-Serbian high-leqvel session.
Croatia will be the third and final station of Algeria FM, Abdelkader Messahel, and his agenda for this country is no different from that of its former sister, Serbia, in a part of the files that will be discussed, including economic, commercial and cultural files.
Messahel’s visit to the Balkans comes a week after the visit that led the First Deputy of Prime Minister, Serbian Foreign Minister, Ivica Dacic, to Morocco, a visit which revealed an unusual Serbian stance on issues of concern to the Algerian side, because the Algerian-Yugoslav relationships and its heir Serbia are an example of harmony on many regional issues.
The statements that are attributed to the Serbian official during his visit to Morocco intend to “the serious approach of the Kingdom of Morocco in dealing with the Sahara issue”, which can be understood as the involvement of Belgrade in the perception of Morocco to resolve this crisis, which is self-rule that is rejected by the Saharawi people, like it was rejected by many regional, continental and international organizations and bodies.
President of Serbian Diplomacy did not convey a documented statement explicitly stating his support for the Moroccan proposal on Western Sahara, which is likely to be merely a “preparation” for the Moroccan side which he tried to portray as facts, to suggest that the isolation that he has been pursuing since the European justice confirmed in its ruling of last month that Western Sahara was not part of Moroccan sovereignty.
From this point of view, Messahel’s visit to Serbia comes as an opportunity to try to find out the truth of the Serbian position on the Sahara issue, which is referred to by the Foreign Ministry’s statement as “discussing regional issues” and seeking to influence it if it is transformed, by exploiting the historical background of relationships between Algeria and Yugoslavia, which late leader, Josip Broz Tito, was one of the most prominent defenders of the Algerian cause since the Bandung Conference in 1955.
Mohamed Moslem/English version: Dalila Henache