Arab League Summit 2022 in Algeria

The Arab League, which includes 22 countries, had last met at the summit in March 2019 in
Tunis. Today, Arab leaders meet in the Algerian capital on Tuesday for their first summit, the
first in three years. Of the 22 member countries of the Arab League, and apart from Algeria
which is hosting the 31st summit of the League, only nine of them will be represented by
their heads of state. Meanwhile, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates,
Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Sudan and Yemen’s Heads of state were not part of
the Summit.
The heads of state who attended the 31st summit of the Arab League:
- The Tunisian President Kais Said
- The President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al Sissi
- The President of Palestine Mohamed Abbas
- The President of Mauritania Mohammed Weld Cheikh Al Ghazouani
- President of Comoros Othmane Ghazali
- The President of Djibouti Ismaël Omar Jileh
- The President of Somalia Sheikh Mahmoud
- Temine Al Thani the Emir of Qatar

2. After several days of uncertainty, and while many contradictory rumors were
circulating, King Mohammed VI has renounced to attend the Arab League summit, which
took place on November 1 and 2 in Algiers. Nasser Bourita, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign
Affairs, formally informed the Secretary General of the Arab League on Sunday evening,
October 30.

3. The reasons for the non-arrival of the king, who had been among the first heads of
state to announce his presence, are several orders. Rabat believes that the Algerian
authorities have reserved an undiplomatic treatment to Nasser Bourita and his delegation,
which would not allow the king to make a serene and peaceful stay. Morocco also dislikes
the persistence of attacks on it in the Algerian media.

4. On Saturday, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who arrived in the Algerian
capital to participate in the preparatory meeting of the summit, reportedly did not
appreciate the welcome he and his delegation received.

5. Among the incidents that caused controversy, the reception reserved for the
Moroccan media delegation " Only 52 people stayed to cover the summit and 40 returned to
Morocco” stressed Nasser Bourita during an interview to Al Arabiya.

6. The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, was received this Tuesday,
November 01, 2022, by the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the opening of the
summit of the Arab League.

7. The blunders were followed by the incident of the Algerian international channel AL24
News, which broadcast on its website a map of the Arab world different from that adopted
by the League of Arab States. A move that was strongly challenged by the head of Moroccan
diplomacy, leading the Arab League to issue a statement to clear things up. On Sunday, the
Arab League denied having "media partners" for the coverage of the work of the 31st Arab
Summit in Algeria.

8. The League confirmed in a statement "it does not adopt an official map on which
appear the political borders of Arab countries, including those of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Rather, it adopts a map of the Arab world without showing the borders between countries in
order to strengthen the concept of Arab unity."

9. In a brief statement issued Sunday, the Algerian channel made a point of apologizing
"for having used a map of the Arab world other than that approved by the Arab League,"
stressing that this is "only a technical error.

10. Concurrently, the Moroccan delegation remained in the room during the Summit and
protested against the lack of respect of an Algerian channel shown toward the map of the
Kingdom, as recognized, which forced the Arab League to issue a clarification and the chair
of the session to apologize.

Observations:

11. Some main African issues were discussed during the Summit, amongst them the
situation in Libya which was on the agenda of the Arab summit in Algiers. The issue of
holding legislative and presidential elections in Libya will be decided by Arab leaders, despite
some reservations on the part of the Egyptian side about the representativeness of the
government in Tripoli.

12. Considered worrying, the current situation in Sudan will also be addressed by Arab
leaders to support a return to constitutional order at a time when the country is
experiencing demonstrations to demand “civil power”.

13. Nacer Bourita, asked his counterparts for a firm condemnation of Iran because of,
according to him, Tehran's support for the Polisario. This proposal was not accepted, which
provoked the anger of the head of Moroccan diplomacy.

14. On the economic front, the Algiers summit will adopt a new strategy for Arab food
security. Countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon, rely heavily on grain
imports from Ukraine and Russia, hence the willingness of Arab states to adopt a new
agricultural strategy to produce wheat locally.

15. Water security was also addressed at the Algiers summit, especially with Egypt's
proposal to discuss the Renaissance Dam dispute and the sharing of Nile waters with
Ethiopia.

16. Morocco confirmed with several countries that the Arab world needs to strengthen
its territorial integrity and sovereignty, combat separatism, and strengthen its institutions.
17. Conclusive step, it is plain that not only the incident on the amputated map of the
Kingdom was exceeded, but the declaration of Algiers thanked the commendable efforts
made by HM King Mohammed VI, in his capacity as chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, to
support the Palestinian cause and other common Arab causes.

18. In the resolution adopted on developments in the Palestinian cause, the Arab
Summit also welcomed the direct mediation in which the Kingdom of Morocco, under the
Sovereign's farsighted leadership, engaged with the United States of America, which resulted
in an agreement on the permanent opening of the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge linking the
West Bank to Jordan and which constitutes the Palestinians' only outlet to the world.

19. The resolution also welcomed the role of Morocco and more specifically the Skhirate
agreement in the process of resolving the Libyan crisis. Cold shower for the Algerian regime,
which saw the Kingdom collect congratulations, on its own land. Then, the greatest
achievement of the Kingdom is the Algiers declaration which rejects any form of interference
in the internal affairs of Arab countries and insists on the need to find Arab solutions to Arab
problems, through the strengthening of the role of the Arab League in the prevention of
crises and their peaceful resolution, as well as the consolidation of inter-Arab relations.

20. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita reminded the Al Arabiya television
channel, there is no lack of problems in the region, but rather of solutions. The resurgence of
violence against the Palestinians, instability in Yemen, Libya, Syria, Sudan, the global energy,
security, food and climate crises, all hot topics that would have greatly deserved a
consensual treatment of the Arab League.

21. In fine, Morocco has been cooperative and receptive to any approach aimed at raising
the level of operability of the Arab League and its effective contribution to the resolution of
inter-Arab conflicts and thanks to this political maturity, it came out a winner. While the
generals' regime missed the opportunity to show the international community that it is
capable of working hand in hand with the Kingdom and turning the page of conflicts.

22. A few days after having renounced to go to Algiers for the summit of the Arab League,
the king of Morocco Mohammed VI invites the Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune to
come to dialogue in the kingdom. A new opportunity to renew ties broken in August 2021, at
the initiative of Algiers denouncing "hostile acts" of its neighbor.