Hilale harshly criticizes Algeria: “It suffers from an incurable schizophrenic pathology regarding the Moroccan Sahara”

The regional seminar of the UN’s Committee of 24 (C24), recently held in Dili, Timor-Leste, once again became a stage for recurring tensions between Morocco and Algeria. A sharp exchange of rights of reply between the two delegations highlighted the deep diplomatic divide that persists between Rabat and Algiers on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara.

Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, did not mince his words. He accused Algeria of suffering from an “incurable schizophrenic pathology” for maintaining a double discourse: on the one hand, Algiers claims not to be a party to the conflict, while on the other, it actively obstructs any revival of the UN-led political process.

With sharp rhetoric, Hilale challenged the international community: “Who created the Polisario? Algeria. Where is it based? On Algerian soil. Who funds it? Algeria. Who leads the diplomatic campaigns against Morocco? Once again, Algeria.” For him, this involvement needs no further proof, as evidenced by the repeated references to Algeria in successive UN Security Council resolutions.

The Moroccan diplomat slammed what he called Algeria’s “obsolete software,” accusing it of deliberately ignoring all Security Council resolutions adopted after the year 2000. According to Hilale, these resolutions confirm the abandonment of the referendum, acknowledge the preeminence of Morocco’s autonomy initiative, and explicitly recognize Algeria as a stakeholder in the search for a political solution.

Responding to Algeria’s claim of historical support for African liberation movements, Hilale remarked with irony: “That myth from the 1960s is long gone. Today, Algiers has become the Mecca of destabilization, terrorism, separatism, and of all those who take up arms against their own homeland.”

He further added that Algeria’s destabilizing policy in the Maghreb and the Sahel has paved the way for the spread of transnational terrorism, particularly that of Al-Qaeda and Daesh, thereby exacerbating instability across the African continent.

Finally, Hilale delivered a stinging challenge to the Algerian delegation, questioning its purported commitment to the right of self-determination: “If Algeria wants to be credible, it should start by applying that right within its own territory—especially to the Kabyle people, whose demand for self-determination dates back well before the creation of the Algerian state itself.” A sharp conclusion that left no one indifferent.