Algeria cuts off relations with “hostile” Morocco, partly blaming Israel’s rapprochement

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Algeria officially severed diplomatic relations with neighboring Morocco on Tuesday, the foreign minister citing a series of suspected hostile acts, including Rabat’s recent rapprochement with Israel.

The move marks the culmination of a period of growing tension between North African countries that are mired in a decades-long feud with their borders closed to each other. There was no immediate reaction from Morocco.

Algeria has decided to sever diplomatic relations with Morocco from today, Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said at a press conference, during which he read a statement by the president.

The announcement comes nearly a week after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune told a meeting of the Algerian High Security Council that the relentless hostile acts perpetrated by Morocco have led to the need for a review of relations between the two countries. and the intensification of security checks “at the western borders with Morocco, the official APS news agency reported.

The two countries are allies of Western nations, and the move risked complicating diplomacy in the region. Both are important in the fight against terrorism in the neighboring Sahel region.

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Arab League secretary general Ahmed Abdul Gheit called on the two to avoid further escalation. He expressed hope that the two countries can maintain a minimum level of relations to ensure stability for themselves and within the region.

Moroccan Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (left) and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (right) speak in Rabat, August 11, 2021 (Shlomi Amsalem, GPO)

The Algerian foreign minister cited an accumulation of grievances against Morocco leading to Tuesday’s decision.

He also denounced massive and systematic acts of espionage by Morocco, referring to allegations that the kingdom’s security services used the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli group NSO against its officials and citizens, a declared the APS. Morocco categorically denies such assertions.

A normalization deal between Morocco and Israel in December also sparked new tensions between Rabat and Algiers because the United States recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara as part of the deal.

Other criticisms ranged from remarks reported by the Moroccan ambassador to the UN in mid-July to recent comments by the Israeli foreign minister during a historic visit to Morocco as part of the normalization of their relations.

Morocco has made its territory a platform for foreign powers to speak with hostility about Algeria, APS said citing Lamamra.

Lamamra on Tuesday accused Foreign Minister Yair Lapid of “senseless accusations and veiled threats” after the top Israeli diplomat expressed “concerns over Algeria’s role in the region”.

On his first visit to Morocco since the countries normalized relations, Lapid said his concerns were based on fears that Algeria was “getting closer to Iran”, as well as “the campaign it led against Israel’s admission as an observer member of the African Union. . “

Moroccan Foreign Minister Yair Lapid meets Moroccan Deputy Foreign Minister Mohcine Jazouli at Rabat-Salé international airport on August 11, 2021 (Shlomi Amsalem, GPO)

Since 1948, no Israeli official has made a statement hostile to an Arab country from another Arab country, the APS said, citing Lamamra.

In response to the comments, a source close to Lapid told Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the foreign minister sees Israel and Morocco as part of a “pragmatic and positive axis in the region, as opposed to an opposing axis. , of which Iran and Algeria are part. .

“It would be better for Algeria to focus on all the problems it faces,” the source added.

A Moroccan army vehicle drives past car wrecks in Guerguerat, Western Sahara, November 24, 2020, after the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces intervened in the region. (Fadel SENNA / AFP)

Morocco’s ambassador to the UN is also said to have said that the people of the Algerian Berber region of Kabyle should have the right to determine their status. He also cited Algeria’s claims that Morocco supports a Kabyle separatist group known as MAK, which Algiers has placed on a terrorism list. Algeria has suggested that MAK played a role in the forest fires this month in the Kabyle region that killed dozens of people, including more than two dozen soldiers.

The Kabyle question recalls Algeria’s support for an offer by the Polisario Front, an independence movement based in southern Algeria, for self-determination in the contested Western Sahara which was annexed by Morocco in 1975.

Morocco wants the autonomy of the region under its tutelage, while Algeria wants self-determination through a referendum.

For all these reasons, based on the facts… I announced that Algeria has decided to sever relations, Lamamra said.

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