Tunisia has added the final nail in Algeria’s attempt to create a Maghreb union that excludes and isolates Morocco. The Algerian president has spoken about a union in the making with Tunisia and Libya due to the inaction of the Maghreb union that also includes Mauritania and Morocco. However, the recent appointment by Tunisia’s President Kais Saied of a new Secretary General of the five-state Arab Maghreb Union, indicates a resounding failure of Tebboune’s three-state union. The founding treaty of the Rabat-based union stipulates that the head of the Rabat-based UMA secretariat general should be of Tunisian nationality. The new secretary general will have to deal with the reluctance of Algeria to pay its contributions to the Union.
