Algeria and Morocco at daggers drawn on many subjects
A man waves the Polisario Front flag on February 3, 2017 in the Al-Mahbes region.
AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Algeria is raising the tone against its western neighbor.
Algiers accuses Rabat of being involved in the deadly fires that ravaged the north of the country and caused the death of more than 90 people.
An accusation which is likely to amplify the tensions between two countries with complicated relations for several decades.
Following these accusations, Algiers announced this Wednesday August 18 the reassessment of its relations with Rabat.
Algeria denounces the incessant hostile acts perpetrated by Morocco.
Return on the disputes that accumulate.
Advertising
Read more
Algiers' latest accusations against Rabat only end a series of new untoward incidents between the two countries since 2020.
Israel's normalization with Morocco
Last week, Yaïr Lapid, the Israeli Foreign Minister
visiting Rabat
, declared that he and his Moroccan counterpart "
had expressed their concerns about the role played by Algeria in the region and its rapprochement with the Iran
”.
Words that aroused the anger of Algerian diplomacy.
For Algiers, these declarations come under the leadership of Nasser Bourita, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is leading the Hebrew state into "
a dangerous adventure
".
Algiers refuses the
normalization of relations with Israel
and leads the rebellion against the return of this country as an observer to the African Union.
Rabat calls for the independence of Kabylia
Last July, during a meeting of non-aligned countries, the words of Omar Hilal, Morocco's representative at the UN, angered Algeria to the point of making it recall its ambassador to Rabat.
Omar Hilal considered that “
the Kabyle people in Algeria deserve more than any other to fully enjoy their right to self-determination.
"
A declaration which was not at all to the liking of the Algerian authorities but which expressed on the part of Rabat a desire to protest against the positioning of Algiers vis-à-vis Western Sahara.
Algeria pleads for the autonomy of this region.
The Pegasus episode
The month before, the Pegasus case broke.
Algeria says it is "
deeply concerned
" following revelations that
Morocco has used Israeli software
to spy on Algerian officials and citizens.
More than 6,000 telephone numbers have been selected as targets by Morocco.
Last December, Algeria denounced "
foreign maneuvers
" aimed at destabilizing it.
She pointed to Israel after the United States recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, in return for a normalization of Rabat with the Hebrew state.
In November 2020, the Polisario, supported and financed by Algiers, announced on one side only to break the 1991 ceasefire agreement with Rabat and to resume arms.
Algiers supports the Polisario and the independence of the Sahara while Morocco considers it to be Moroccan territory.
The Polisario has been supported and financed by Algiers since the 1970s.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Algeria
Morocco