Algeria and Morocco are once again the region's defining quarrel, and the whole neighbourhood pays for it
The border is closed, the trade has collapsed, and the Arab Maghreb Union, the body meant to knit the region together, has been inert for years. At the centre sits Western Sahara, where Morocco asserts sovereignty and Algeria backs the movement seeking independence. The dispute has hardened from a regional disagreement into the main axis of competition in North Africa.
The cost is borne by everyone. Integration that could lift the whole region, shared energy, shared markets, shared security against the Sahel's troubles, stalls on the rock of the rivalry. Each capital spends its energy isolating the other rather than building anything together.
There are voices on both sides arguing for a reset, and outside powers with reasons to encourage one. For now the freeze holds, and the Maghreb remains one of the least integrated regions on earth, by choice.
