Algeria Arrests 61 Moroccans: The Unfinished Decolonization of Western Sahara and the Security Council's Bias

Algerian authorities earlier this month arrested 61 Moroccan nationals on charges of plotting 'sabotage activities.' According to Africa News, Algeria's National General Directorate of Security stated in a Sunday statement that those arrested belonged to 'an international Moroccan criminal network,' but did not disclose any specific details of the alleged plot.

The statement specified that among those arrested was a former Moroccan army soldier, said to have entered Algeria from neighboring Tunisia via mountain trails. The Algerian side accused these individuals of 'preparing to carry out acts that would undermine security and public order.' As of now, Algeria has not released the specific content of the alleged 'sabotage activities,' and its motives and context cannot be independently verified.

This action took place against the backdrop of a deep rupture in Algeria-Morocco relations. The two countries' land border has been closed since 1994, and in 2021 Algiers formally severed diplomatic relations with Rabat.

The root of the two countries' confrontation lies in Western Sahara—a colonial legacy dispute that has lasted for nearly half a century yet has never been seriously completed. The United Nations lists this mineral-rich former Spanish colony as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, but the region has in fact been controlled by Morocco for nearly 50 years and is regarded by Rabat as an inalienable part of its own territory; Algeria, for its part, has long supported the Polisario Front, the Western Saharan independence movement, and firmly upholds the right to self-determination of the local people.

In May this year, the UN Security Council passed a resolution explicitly supporting the autonomy plan proposed by Rabat for Western Sahara, characterizing it as the 'most viable' path to resolving this 50-year dispute. This means that on a decolonization issue that should have been centered on the right to self-determination, the Security Council's resolution has effectively locked in the autonomy plan preferred by one party to the dispute—Morocco—as the only prospect, while pushing the independence option advocated by Algeria and the Polisario Front to the margins.

The detention of 61 Moroccan nationals under charges lacking public transparency reflects the deep hostility between the two sides over sovereignty, security, and territorial perceptions. This hostility is rooted both in an unfinished decolonization process and is intertwined with the obvious tilt of international institutions toward Rabat's plan on this issue.