Summary:

On 10 July 2024, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, met with the new Secretary General of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and Tunisian diplomat Tarek Ben Salem in Rabat. Bourita also met with the outgoing AMU Secretary General, Taieb Baccouche, on 2 July. 

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The Moroccan Foreign Minister highlighted the importance of strengthening the AMU so that it could help move the Maghrebi peoples toward progress and prosperity. 

The new Secretary General was appointed on 27 May 2024 by Tunisian President Kais Saied and approved by the members of the AMU in accordance with the founding treaty of 1989. 

Outlook: 

The meeting between Tarek Ben Salem and Tarek Bourita comes as tensions continue to simmer between Morocco and Tunisia after President Kais Saied did not present his condolences to King Mohamed VI of Morocco on the death of his mother Princess Latifa on 29 June. 

Relations between Morocco and Tunisia have been persistently strained since President Saied received the head of the Polisario Front on 26 August 2022, an expression of solidarity with Algeria, which supports the Front in its fight for independence against Morocco. 

With tensions building in North Africa as Algeria and Morocco continue their faceoff, many question if a revival of the AMU can play any substantive role in moving toward trans-Maghreb unity. The nomination of the new Secretary General could create opportunities for diplomatic engagement, but with Algeria and Morocco decidedly entrenched in a long-standing conflict, other regional actors are essentially forced to pick a side. 

The latest meeting serves as Morocco’s rejection of any other Maghrebi organization apart from the AMU in the wake of efforts by Algeria to build a trilateral alliance with Tunisia and Libya. Some effort has been made to include Mauritania as well. Morocco was previously accused of destabilizing the AMU and influencing previous Secretary General Taieb Baccouche to side against Algeria. 

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