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( Arab Maghreb Union)
The Arab Maghreb Union (Arabic ????? ?????? ??????; transliterated Ittihad al-Maghrib al-Araby, FrenchUnion du Maghreb arabe) is a Pan-Arab trade agreement aiming for economic and political unity in North Africa. The idea for an economic union of the Maghreb began with the independence of Tunisia and Morocco in 1956. It was not until thirty years later, though, that five Maghreb states - Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia - met for the first Maghreb summit. The following year, in 1989, the agreement was formally signed by all member nations. According to the Constitutive Act, its aim is to guarantee cooperation “with similar regional institutions… [to] take part in the enrichment of the international dialogue…[to] reinforce the independence of the member states and …[to] safeguard…their assets….”[1] Strategic relevance of the region is based on the fact that, collectively, it boasts large phosphate, oil, and gas and it is a transit centre to southern Europe. The success of the Union would, therefore be economically important.[2] Within the Arab Maghreb Union [AMU] there is a rotating chairmanship, which is held in turn by each nation. The current secretary-general is Tunisian diplomat Habib Ben Yahia. There have been problems of traditional rivalries within the AMU. In 1994, for example, Algeria decided to transfer the presidency of AMU to Libya. This followed the diplomatic tensions between Algeria and other members, especially Morocco and Libya, whose leaders continuously refused to attend AMU meetings held in Algiers. Algerian officials justified the decision, arguing that they were simply complying with the AMU constitutive act, which stipulates that the presidency should in fact rotate on an annual basis. Algeria accepted to take over the presidency from Tunisia in 1994, but could not transfer it due to the absence of all required conditions to relinquish the presidency as stipulated by the constitutive act.
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