Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia established the Arab Maghreb Union in 1989 to

promote cooperation and economic integration in a common market. It was envisioned initially by
Muammar Gaddafi as a superstate.[citation needed] The union included Western Sahara implicitly under
Morocco's membership,[11] and ended Morocco's long cold war with Algeria over this territory.
However, this progress was short-lived, and the union is now dormant.

Tensions between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara re-emerged, reinforced by the unsolved
border dispute between the two countries. These two main conflicts have hindered progress on the union's
joint goals and practically made it inactive as a whole.[12] The instability in the region and growing
cross-border security threats revived calls for regional cooperation. In May 2015 foreign ministers of the
Arab Maghreb Union declared a need for coordinated security policy at the 33rd session of the follow-up
committee meeting; this revived hope of some form of cooperation.[13]