Morocco, yet again, has been under vicious and unjustified attacks by its eastern neighbor. The Algerians accused Morocco of allowing illegal drug trafficking to their country. Such a claim came with no concrete evidence and only reflected how shallow Algeria is in its dealing with Morocco.
The Moroccan government issued a statement denouncing those claims and criticism during a meeting held by Mr. Mohammed Hassad, Minister of Interior, and Mr. Mustapha Khalfi; government’s spokesperson and Mr. Charki Driss, Minister delegated to the Ministry of Interior. The Moroccan officials highlighted that Morocco has always complied with the international convention in fighting against drug trafficking and mentioned that the Kingdom has always been cooperating with the United Nation (UN) to reduce the areas wherein cannabis is cultivated.
According to the Government, Morocco succeeded in dramatically reducing the space of cannabis fields to less than 30 thousand hectars, which is in other words, reducing the whole drug fields to less than 65%.
Morocco’s records in fighting drug trafficking are undisputable. Many European countries praised Morocco’s efforts and joined forces to make those policies to fight the cultivation and trafficking of narcotics more efficient. The likes of Spain, Portugal and France have all decided to coordinate with the Moroccan government to support all the strategies to tighten the borders and monitor closely all the wild spots used by drug lords to grow their products and ship them to Europe. This is well documented and beyond any shadow of doubt. Morover, Morocco has always called for a unified Arab Maghreb, which will make it a lot easier to coordinate and set collective efforts in the region to fight the spread of narcotics in the region.
This came as no surprise as Algeria has been trying for decades to undermine Morocco’s efforts to create a stable region. Morocco has established itself well in the region and continentally in its fight against narcotics and terrorism, as one cannot distinguish between the two. Terror groups in Sahel are funding their activities through sales of drugs, and given how strict the Moroccan government is against any illegal activities in its borders, one can only wonder how those groups are free to mobilize their militants and the whole world knows that their main source of income is in narcotics and human trafficking.
In addition, Algeria is known for facilitating cigarettes’ trafficking, ecstasy and other narcotics to flow freely in the region, and this is no secret to all who monitor the terror networks and what the Algerian government is trying to implement in an effort to destabilize the whole region.
[symple_box color=”blue” text_align=”left” width=”100%” float=”none”]Mr. Beni-ich holds a BA in Law, a BA in Political Sciences, a MA in Security and Intelligence Analyses, a MA in Global Terrorism and a PhD in International Politics. His studies were pursued in England and the U.S.
Mr. Beni-ich began his career as a lawyer working for the British Home Office (The Ministry of Interior) as well as The British Foreign Office. Mr.Beni-ich gave many lectures in the United States regarding the current affairs in the MENA region, both in universities and organizations. Mr. Beni-ich is currently based in Washington, DC where he lobbies for the Moroccan affairs and coordinates with many U.S. officials and Think-Tanks to promote Morocco’s interests, both in the United States and Morocco.
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