Amazigh activists launch pan-Maghreb body

A new Amazigh cultural association hopes to foster economic and political development across North Africa.

Interview by Imrane Binoual for Magharebia in Casablanca – 22/08/11

Amazigh campaigners from across the Maghreb gathered in Tangier last month to celebrate their ancestral heritage. Activists also used the opportunity to launch a new association designed to promote Amazigh rights, language and culture. The Union of North African Peoples (UNAP) was formed by joint declaration of representatives from Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and the Canary Islands. Magharebia sat down with Morocco representative and group vice-president, Ahmed Arrehmouch, to hear how the new association plans to promote Amazigh heritage and Maghreb unity.

Magharebia: How did you come up with the idea for creating a Union of North African Peoples?

Ahmed Arrehmouch: The groundwork was laid before the Tangier Appeal and the announcement about the creation of the Union of North African Peoples (UNAP). Preparatory meetings were held in February in Paris and another was held in the Lebanon. There were discussions about the strategic aims of the Amazigh movement in North Africa. Above all, we felt that the movement and the structure within which we were operating, the World Amazigh Congress, was somewhat weak. This spurred us to think about alternatives taking different forms, with new tools and a new strategic vision. So we agreed to hold an emergency meeting. The events that the region has witnessed accelerated the process of creating a regional framework that could play political, rather than civic, roles and a political role in dealings with governments and international NGOs working to promote democracy and development for the peoples in the region.

Magharebia: Why did you announce the new group during the Touiza festival?

Arrehmouch: We had planned to hold a meeting in June to create the body, but since the organizers of the Touiza festival decided to hold their seventh Mediterranean Festival of Amazigh Culture at around the same time, we seized the opportunity and they said they were willing to host our meeting. So, representatives of Amazigh movements across North Africa came to Morocco for the meeting to create the union, and this culminated in the Tangier Appeal.

Magharebia: Moroccan Amazighs recently won recognition of their language in the new constitution while Tunisian and Libyan Amazighs are seeing freedom for the first time. Did the situation in the region contribute to the creation of your new organization?

Arrehmouch: We felt that the situation across the region made it a very opportune moment, especially because the Amazigh movement played an important role in the February 20 movement in Morocco. In Algeria, too, the RCD (Rally for Culture and Democracy) was the driving force behind the protests in Algiers. We saw the emergence of lively youth and academic movements in Tunisia after the revolution there. They have begun to express themselves freely and have underlined their willingness to include Amazigh organizations. In Egypt, too, people have spoken up and another political movement has emerged in Libya and is represented on the Transitional Council there.

This is the geographical environment in which Amazigh voices expressing a political vision have been heard. The process was sped up by the weakness of the World Amazigh Congress (WAC) in North Africa.

Magharebia: So are you presenting yourselves as an alternative to the WAC?

Arrehmouch: The World Amazigh Congress must now be re-energized, pick itself up and be as dynamic as it used to be. If it can do that, we could work in tandem. However, if its leaders do not do their job, this new organization could become an alternative to it.

Magharebia: What are the first steps that you plan to take?

Arrehmouch: The first step will be to go through the legal process of declaring the UNAP to the relevant authorities. This will be done both in Morocco and abroad. The next step will be to hold a meeting from 25-26 August in Tunisia to put together an action plan for the union. We also intend to organize an international forum to be attended by certain UN agencies that are working to support efforts to promote democracy and human rights. We anticipate that it will be held in the Canary Islands by the end of this year.

Magharebia: Have there been requests to join the new body?

Arrehmouch: We haven't yet opened the door for organizations to become affiliated with this body. In terms of policy, however, the Tangier Appeal stated that the body is open to all Amazigh forces and all NGOs helping people who are subjugated and impoverished in North Africa. For the organization to begin operating, first of all we need to adopt bylaws and the procedure for membership applications. We're still at the stage of hammering out these issues, which will be on the agenda for the meeting that will take place in Tunisia from 25-26 August.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/08/22/feature-02.