The Tunisian President, Kais Saied, along with his Algerian and Libyan counterparts, convened on Monday, April 22, 2024, for their first consultative meeting to conceptualize a new Maghreb bloc. This development arises in light of the stagnation experienced by the Arab Maghreb Union, which also includes Morocco and Mauritania.
A statement from the Tunisian Presidency indicates that Saied extended the meeting invitation to Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune and Libyan Presidential Council leader, Mohammed Yunus Menfi. Neither Morocco nor Mauritania were invited to this meeting, which is set to create a new regional entity.
This three-leaders agreement was made on the sidelines of a gas summit in Algeria at the beginning of March, establishing their intention to hold a tripartite Maghreb meeting every three months, with the first to be held in Tunisia following Ramadan.
In the meeting, the presidents discussed the prevailing conditions in the Maghreb region and the need to intensify and unify efforts to combat economic and security challenges for the betterment of the people in their three nations, according to the Algerian presidency’s statement.
Analysts believe Algeria is trying to form a new Maghreb alliance in a bet to isolate the Kingdom, especially that Tunisian president got on the side of Algeria after receiving huge sums of money and favorable oil and gas deals from the Algerian authorities during the last few months. The deal includes changing Tunisia’s position on the Western Sahara (historically neutral) dossier.
This created a precedent last year after Saied invited the Polisario separatists to Tunisia for the first time in the history of Tunisia, part of the Algeria deal.
