“Atlantic Gas Pipeline” Puts Mauritania To The Test Of Sahrawi Sovereignty!

Questions are increasing regarding the role played by Mauritania in the Atlantic gas pipeline project between Nigeria and Morocco, in light of indicators of progress in the arrangements associated with it, and growing fears that Nouakchott will turn into a party to a Moroccan endeavor to impose a new economic and political reality on Western Sahara, going beyond the energy considerations of the project and placing it before legal and political consequences related to the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. This development adds more ambiguity to the nature of Moroccan movements toward Nouakchott, represented by the unannounced visit of Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita to the Mauritanian capital on Friday, November 6, where he met President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani and Mauritanian officials, before leaving on the same day. The Mauritanian Independent News Agency reported details of the visit citing private sources, while the Moroccan newspaper “Ya Biladi” circulated the news, without any official announcement being issued from both sides revealing the nature of the talks or the files they addressed. This move gains special importance given its timing, which coincides with the rapid developments in the Western Sahara file, and the accompanying attempts to rearrange regional positions, which opens the door to questions regarding the messages carried by the Moroccan official to Nouakchott, and the extent to which these contacts are linked to the files raised between the two countries, foremost of which is the Atlantic gas pipeline. Two readings intersect in this context, presented by the expert in Maghreb affairs Hamdi Yahdhih and former Ambassador Amar Belani, as the first raises fears of Moroccan pressures aimed at luring Mauritania into supporting the occupation, while the second focuses on the technical and legal data related to the pipeline’s path, and what might result from Nouakchott’s involvement in a project that includes territorial waters or the exclusive economic zone of Western Sahara. Hamdi Yahdhih believes in a statement to “Echorouk” that Sahrawi doubts regarding the nature of Moroccan movements toward Mauritania are inseparable from Rabat’s efforts aimed at utilizing bilateral relations to consolidate its occupation of Western Sahara, considering that issues related to the borders, the Lagouira area, the Atlantic Initiative, and the gas pipeline cannot be dealt with as files separate from the Sahrawi conflict. The expert warns that the circulation of data regarding Mauritania’s acceptance, in secret, of arrangements related to the Atlantic Initiative and the pipeline route, alongside talk of an Emirati project to establish a port in Lagouira, raises fears of entangling Nouakchott in arrangements affecting Sahrawi lands and waters, and granting the Moroccan occupation regional cover for projects aimed at bypassing the legal status of the territory. Yahdhih highlights, in this context, the focus of Moroccan discourse on what it calls the “Mauritanian-Moroccan section” of the gas pipeline, considering that this designation aims to involve Mauritania in a project where a significant part of its route passes along the Sahrawi coasts, the length of which within the concerned route is estimated at about 1110 kilometers, which raises, according to him, the issue of the Sahrawi people’s right to approve the exploitation of these coasts and their resources. The expert also links Moroccan movements to what he describes as attempts to exploit Emirati aid and economic promises to encourage Mauritania to engage in regional arrangements that serve Rabat’s interests, warning that external support is governed by interests and ambitions, and cannot be relied upon to ensure Mauritania’s stability or protect its sovereignty. In this regard, the spokesperson reveals to “Echorouk” saying: “I learned that among Mauritania’s consultations with Morocco is that it wants it to accept the opening of a new crossing starting from Amgala toward Bir Moghrein in Mauritania, and that Nouakchott does not object and only stipulates that the Moroccan army protect it just as it protects Guerguerat, and that Morocco says it will pass from the point where the sand wall touches the Mauritanian border.” From a legal and diplomatic angle, former Ambassador Amar Belani places the project’s developments in a more sensitive context, based on statements by the Director General of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Bashir Bayo Ogoulari, who announced on November 5 in “Abu Dhabi” that the concerned countries had concluded the necessary agreements, suggesting that Morocco and Mauritania have completed the remaining procedures after the ECOWAS countries signed the intergovernmental agreement in Freetown – the capital of Sierra Leone – on July 19, 2026. Belani points out that the most sensitive aspect of the project relates to the maritime route, noting that the Moroccan National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines had previously announced, in January 2024, the conduct of exploration operations and bathymetric studies for the maritime route in the Dakhla area, confirming the extension of technical studies into the territorial waters of Western Sahara. The former Algerian ambassador emphasizes that Western Sahara remains listed on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories, and enjoys an international status separate from Morocco, which possesses no legal basis for sovereignty over the territory or its airspace or territorial waters, recalling the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union issued on October 4, 2024, which confirmed the necessity of obtaining the consent of the Sahrawi people through their legitimate representative regarding agreements affecting their territory and resources. Thus, Belani places the Mauritanian authorities before the responsibility of clarifying the nature of their commitments in the project, and the legal conditions that will frame their participation, especially if the adopted route includes the territorial waters or the exclusive economic zone adjacent to Western Sahara, warning that involvement in an energy infrastructure aimed at integrating the occupied territory into the Moroccan system, without a prior settlement of its international status, poses serious political and legal problems. The interpretations presented by Yahdih and Belani reveal the essence of the problem surrounding the Atlantic gas pipeline, as the project is no longer just an infrastructure for transporting energy between Africa and Europe, but has become linked to regional balances and attempts to employ economic cooperation to impose facts that conflict with the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. In light of these data, Nouakchott’s silence or the ambiguity of its position do not dispel concerns, but rather increase questions regarding the limits of its involvement in a project whose implications go beyond economic calculations to the heart of the conflict in Western Sahara.