✍️ BY: Dr. Hana Saada
Algiers, Algeria | Newly declassified CIA documents have torn away the veil of myth surrounding the “Sand War” of 1963, exposing it not as a border dispute but as a calculated neo-colonial operation designed to plunder Algeria’s Sahara. At the heart of the revelations lies Morocco’s subservient role to French and American agendas, with its territorial claims conveniently overlapping with the region’s oil and gas wealth.
France’s Energy Obsession and Colonial Engineering
The document, (https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp79-01006a000100040001-2/page/n5/ mode/2up), dated 1957, reveals France’s determination to secure its grip on Saharan energy. In a blatant attempt to fragment Algerian sovereignty, Paris carved the desert into two separate departments, hoping to retain direct control even after Algeria’s inevitable independence. Instead of linking the Saharan fields with northern Algeria through pipelines, France schemed to reroute exports via Spanish-occupied Western Sahara, ensuring French control of the strategic lifeline.
The paper further implicates Paris in underhanded dealings with Libya, where it allegedly bribed Prime Minister Ben Halim to redraw borders in ways that preserved French dominance over crucial hydrocarbon deposits. This web of corruption underscores the systemic nature of colonial plunder: redraw borders, manipulate governments, and exploit resources — all under the guise of “strategic necessity.”
Morocco’s Role: The Proxy of Imperialism
The overlap is chillingly clear: Morocco’s so-called “Greater Morocco” claims mapped directly onto Algeria’s hydrocarbon-rich southwest. The revival of this expansionist fantasy was never about history or culture — it was about oil. Rabat’s aggression in 1963 emerges as a thinly disguised annexation attempt, orchestrated to serve French economic interests.
Behind the Moroccan flag flew the shadow of foreign powers. France needed a compliant ally to advance its neo-colonial designs, and Morocco willingly obliged, presenting itself as the convenient instrument of imperial ambitions.
Washington’s Silent Hand
The CIA document leaves two pages still classified, a silence that speaks volumes. Did Washington, with its close ties to the Moroccan monarchy, supply intelligence or strategic backing to tilt the balance in Rabat’s favor? The question lingers ominously. What is undeniable is the steady alignment of American policy with Moroccan ambitions, cementing the kingdom’s role as a client state within the Western security architecture of North Africa.
The Sand War: Plunder Disguised as Conflict
Far from being a regrettable quarrel between neighbors, the Sand War was an episode in a much larger saga: the organized looting of North Africa under the guise of independence. The Moroccan monarchy, parading as a sovereign actor, was in fact nothing more than the executor of Paris’s dying imperial will — and by extension, Washington’s Cold War designs.
These revelations drive home a sobering truth: political independence does not automatically equal sovereignty. For Algeria, for Western Sahara, and for the wider region, vigilance remains paramount. The Moroccan Makhzen, ever willing to sell out its neighbors to curry favor with foreign patrons, continues to embody the very spirit of betrayal and dependency that fuels instability across the Maghreb.
History has rendered its verdict: Morocco’s aggression in 1963 was not national heroism, but colonial servitude dressed in nationalist colors.
Translated from La Patrie News: La CIA dévoile les vraies motivations du Maroc dans la guerre des Sables : Pétrole, néocolonialisme et manipulations franco-américaines
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