I am in accord with Rick on this one, I also believe this to be most likely from Spanish regions in Morocco, and as he notes the blade is military. The blade appears to be a British M1796 light cavalry example as occur in use on the 'Berber' sabres also being shown in the posts here. Although these interesting sabres have generally been accepted as Berber and probably from Moroccan regions, there is some disagreement to that attribution. These typically occur with the M1796 blades, which are typically highly profiled at the tip, although other sabre blades have been seen and not all carry the dramatic profiling. I remain inclined to believe they are indeed from Spanish Morocco.
I think this interesting variant posted by Fenris reflects traditional Mudejar influence in the studded checkerboard motif, though as noted, this motif does seem atypical on weapons of these regions. It seems of course that I have seen something similar, but as yet have not located it. In "Southwestern Colonial Ironwork" (Simmons & Turley, N.M.1980, p.5), the authors note ornamental nail heads or bosses (=chatones) liberally applied to doors and chest, and that the "...Moorish distaste for empty space", "...led them to fill large door panels with symmetrical placings of decorative nail heads". Although this characteristic describes quite early application of this motif in medieval Andulusia, the style of course carried into the Spanish regions in Morocco and is reflected in degree in the material culture there.
The wire wrap on the grip of course reflects that practice on the sword hilts of Arabia and India, deriving from the same often applied on Persian shamshirs. The knives of Bou Saada adopted that characteristic in the same manner as appears on this sabre ( the term nimcha of course colloquially presumed), through trade influences as that was in important stop in Algeria on caravan routes.
The curved profile of the blade root to meet the ferrule of the grip is much the same as on the 'Berber' sabres.
The inclination that often brings the recollection of SEA probability in many of these weapons from North Africa I think derives from the fact that many of the influences on those weapons also derive from Arab trade, that of course carried in degree many Moorish features. That is of course even more prevalent in Philippine regions which were colonized by Spain, and those influences certainly diffused in the environs through trade, warfare and varied interaction.
I hope somebody can find an example of the 'checkerboard' mofif elsewhere, its drivin' me nuts trying to find the example I saw!!
All the best,
Jim