In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday night on his and Jared Kushner’s involvement in Gaza negotiations, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said that Washington is actively mediating talks between Morocco and Algeria to broker an agreement within 60 days.
The two countries have had no formal diplomatic relations since August 2021, when Algiers severed ties unilaterally with Rabat following Spain’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.
Asked about other peace deals, Witkoff said in passing, “We’re working on Algeria and Morocco right now, our team. And there’s going to be a peace deal there in the next, in my view, 60 days.”
While Algiers maintains that it is “not a party” to the conflict, merely an “observer,” the North African country houses and supports the Polisario Front, an armed separatist group with links to terrorist groups operating in the Sahel region.
At the 80th UN General Assembly last month, Morocco’s UN ambassador Omar Hilale directly challenged Algeria’s claim of neutrality, saying that Algeria “cannot pretend it is not a party to the conflict” while at the same time laying down conditions for resolving it.
Meanwhile, Morocco’s 2007 proposed Autonomy Plan powers forward, having now garnered the support of more than 120 countries, including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, as well as over two-thirds of EU member states.