Morocco: Positive Neutrality

Photo Credit Arab News

Stretching back centuries, Morocco and Libya have an ancient history of geographical, ethnolinguistic, cultural, and religious connections. Politically, their bilateral relations were mostly favourable until 1969, when they began to deteriorate after Mu’ammar Gaddafi deposed King Idris I in a military coup. This would launch the start of a frictional relationship, in which Libya became a Maghreb neighbour with antipathetic policies towards Morocco. During Gaddafi’s era, there were various lows, with the most enduring becoming his support for the Polisario Front, a separatist group founded in 1973 and based along the Algerian – Moroccan border. Gaddafi provided them with consequential backing and aid for decades and his support was initially indispensable for the Front’s armed conflict against Morocco. Another low was when the late King Hassan II accused Tripoli of backing a coup against him in 1971 - Libyan media had been among the first to offer support to the unsuccessful putschists.

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