The Algerian diplomatic machine has suffered many setbacks in 2013 in the territorial dispute opposing Algeria to Morocco about the Western Sahara.
Despite the large financial amounts spent in propaganda and lobbying campaigns, Algeria was dealt serious blows on the European, African and Latin American diplomatic scenes.
In Europe, where the Algerian regime has mobilized an armada of lobbyists to defend its interests and the separatist thesis of its protégé, the Polisario, Morocco has scored points in its struggle for its territorial integrity and sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territory.
In the morrow of the adoption of the new EU-Morocco fisheries agreement covering the Moroccan southern provinces waters, the European Parliament declined on December 11, to include in the EU 2012 annual report on human rights and democracy in the world, an amendment on the establishment of an international mechanism to monitor human rights in Western Sahara.

This decision has been described by the President of the Joint Morocco-EU- Parliamentary Committee, Abderrahim Atmoun, as “another victory for Morocco.”
The sentence referring to an “international monitoring mechanism for human rights in the Sahara” was deleted from the report, he said.
With regard to Latin America, Panama and Paraguay have both withdrawn their recognition of the ghostly Sahrawi Republic “SADR.” Their decision was made just few days after the historic visit of King Mohammed VI to Washington, whose results were very disappointing for the Algerian rulers and the Polisario leaders.
During his first official meeting with the Moroccan monarch, President Barack Obama had clearly reiterated his country’s support to the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara that he described again as “serious, realistic and credible.” For the American President, the Moroccan proposal for the final settlement of this issue “represents a potential approach that can satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity.”
This string of victories reflects the seriousness and credibility of Morocco’s positions and of its multiple reforms seeking to enhance democracy and promote human rights throughout the Kingdom.
All that is needed now is to get Algerian leaders checkmated to close this painful chapter that is dividing two brotherly peoples and neighbors.