For months there has been intense tension between the neighboring countries Morocco and Algeria.
Now the government in Algiers has broken off diplomatic relations with Rabat.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra accused the Moroccan security services on Tuesday of waging “a despicable war against Algeria, its people and its leaders”.
History has shown that "Morocco has never given up on carrying out hostile acts against Algeria".
Morocco and Algeria accuse each other of supporting separatist movements in each other.
"The Moroccan provocation peaked when a Moroccan delegate to the United Nations called for the independence of the people of the Kabylia region," Lamamra said on Tuesday.
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry described the Algerian approach as "completely unjustified".
However, the step was expected "in view of the escalation logic that we have observed over the past few weeks," said the ministry.
The Algerian decision to break off diplomatic relations was based on “false and even absurd pretexts”.
Independence movement responsible for forest fires?
Algeria had already called its ambassador from the Moroccan capital Rabat back for consultations in July after the Moroccan envoy to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, had spoken out in favor of Kabylia. Algiers then announced that it would "review" relations between the two countries and "strengthen security controls on the western borders". The border between Algeria and Morocco has been officially closed since 1994.
The movement for the self-determination of Kabylia (MAK), classified by Algiers as a terrorist organization, is fighting for the independence of Kabylia, a Berber-speaking region in north-east Algeria.
The Algerian authorities blame the movement for the devastating forest fires this month in which at least 90 people were killed.
Dispute over the Polisario Front in Morocco
Morocco had already broken off diplomatic relations with the Algerian government once in 1976 when it recognized the Sahara Democratic Arab Republic in the territory of the Western Sahara occupied by Morocco.
The Moroccan envoy Hilale had expressed his support for an independent Kabylia region in response to Algeria's support for the Polisario Front.
Another point of contention between countries is the normalization of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel in return for the United States' recognition of Moroccan "sovereignty" over Western Sahara. Algiers traditionally supports the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict.