Through its battle against radicalism and terrorism in the Sahel area south of the Sahara, Algeria insisted on excluding both Morocco and Libya from the efforts made in this regard, in the presence of officials from Mali, Niger, and Mauritania. Right before the Moroccan-Algerian relationships witnessed some détente, there was a general understanding that the differences between the two neighboring countries are prone to be replicated in every context: from the implementation of the shutdown of the land borders, to the differences in positions concerning the issue of the Sahara, all the way to the abolishment of any possible coordination in the war against terrorism and radicalism. However, in order to ensure an encouraging start on the road of re-tackling the deep crisis between Alger and Rabat, there was a must to re-attempt a dialogue on the issue of terrorism from the basis that there is no theoretical difference concerning this issue, and that it is better to benefit from each others' experience instead of excluding the other. This is especially true since excluding Rabat will not prevent the latter from being preoccupied with the security situation and its repercussions in the Sahel area south of the Sahara. The literal justification presented by Algeria was that Morocco has no joint borders with the Sahel countries while, geographically speaking, there are borders stretching from Algeria to northern Mauritania, thus making these two countries directly concerned with this issue. However, cross-continental terrorism knows no borders and no customs checkpoints. In addition, the participation of the European countries refutes this logic. Otherwise, how could we understand the European and American fears from events taking place thousands of miles away in a wide desert space, if it wasn't for the regional and international conviction about the dangers of the terrorist phenomenon? There has been a precedent, which signaled that the political differences between the two neighboring countries have cast their shadows over all the regional and international files. Algeria was absent from several conferences hosted by Morocco concerning the issue of fighting illegal emigration. The last of such conferences was the Afro-European Conference, which adopted a phased strategy. This means that the race to exclusion and absenting one's self has turned into a policy of dealing with the coercions of the geographic surroundings. What a paradox this is as Algeria is listening to its western partners while it is shutting the doors in the face of its western neighbor only because this neighbor's name is Morocco. The exclusion of Libya from the Sahel conference on terrorism is due to intersecting political and security-related reasons. Perhaps Algeria wanted to prevent the embarrassment of extending an invitation to a Libyan authority that it does not acknowledge and with which it has no regular diplomatic relationships. However, the regional and international preoccupation with the repercussions of the collapse of Col. Gaddafi's regime, mainly on the level of the growing fears from weapons smuggling to the neighboring countries, necessitates the overcoming of diplomatic problems since the subject of the conference consisted of coordinating the stands concerning war against terrorism in the regions of the Sahel and the Sahara. If Algeria has concerns over this chaos, then the best chance to express those concerns is to look into ways of dealing with them in the presence of all the concerned parties during the regional conference on terrorism. In addition, extending an invitation to the National Interim Council would have aided in overcoming the current impasse of the relationships between the two neighboring countries, at least because the Libyans themselves are talking about rejecting terrorism and radicalism and proceeding in the direction of building a civil state and establishing trust with the Maghreb surroundings. The background of the increasingly rolling snowball indicates that the relationships between Morocco, Algeria, and the new Libyan Authority have been affected by the calculations and projections of the phase that preceded the fall of Gaddafi. It seems that the Moroccans – who thought that overthrowing Gaddafi will rid them of the man who was the first supporter of the Polisario front with weapons, equipments and money – were happier than the Algerians who lost their old alliance with the Libyan regime that helped them to deal with the issue of the Sahara. This is especially true in light of the statements issued by officials from the interim council who hoped to return, along with Morocco, to the African Union. Once again, the Sahara is pointing from behind the growing crisis. Although none of the concerned sides wishes to be clear about things, the certain thing is that dealing with the security problems in the Sahel should be coupled with re-structuring the situation in the Maghreb region. Indeed, in addition to the Saharan people who constituted a major problem, there are also the Tuareg, the tribes and further Balkanization aspirations that are casting a negative weight over the entire area. And this is the core of the problem.
