The Algerian authorities decided to immediately close their airspace in the face of Moroccan civil and military aircraft, and those with a Moroccan registration number, while a source from Royal Air Maroc said that the decision would affect only a limited number of flights.
The Presidency of the Algerian Republic said that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune - Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense - chaired a meeting on Wednesday of the Supreme Security Council, which decided to immediately close Algerian airspace on all Moroccan civil and military aircraft, as well as those bearing a Moroccan registration number.
The meeting of the Supreme Security Council was devoted to studying "developments on the borders with the Kingdom of Morocco, in view of the continued provocations and hostile practices from the Moroccan side," according to the council's description.
Reuters news agency quoted a source in Royal Air Maroc as saying that this decision will affect only 15 flights per week connecting Morocco with Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt.
The source described the impact of the decision on the company as not significant, and said that the flights concerned had changed their course to pass over the Mediterranean.
Cut the relationships
On August 24, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Morocco, and denounced what he said was a "campaign based on imaginary scenarios targeting Algeria."
The decision to cut relations came after a series of tensions between the two countries, the latest of which was Algeria's accusation of the Moroccan authorities of spying on Algerian officials using the Israeli spying system "Pegasus", which Morocco denied and considered it "baseless accusations."
Algeria was also angry at statements by Morocco's representative to the United Nations, Omar Hilal, last summer, in which he spoke of what he called "the right of the Kabylie region to self-determination", in response to what Algeria considers "the right to self-determination" in Western Sahara.
After Hilal's statements, Algeria accused Rabat of supporting the "Movement for the Self-Determination of the Kabylie Region", which is known by the acronym "MAC" movement, and is led by Farhat Mehenni, which Algeria classifies as a "terrorist movement".
The Algerian Foreign Ministry asked Morocco for clarifications regarding these statements, to which Rabat did not respond.
Algeria also expressed anger at the statements of the Israeli foreign minister, made from Morocco, in which he expressed Israel's concern about what he said "Algeria's role in the region and its great rapprochement with Iran."
Morocco expressed its regret at Algeria's decision to sever diplomatic relations between them, and the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the decision as "completely unjustified", and that it was expected given what it called the logic of escalation recorded during the recent period.
In its statement, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said that Rabat categorically rejects "the flimsy and ridiculous pretexts" behind Algeria's severing of its relations with the Kingdom.
The statement added that Morocco will remain a sincere and faithful partner of the Algerian people, and will continue to work wisely and responsibly for the development of sound and fruitful Maghreb relations.
Ongoing crisis?
The new diplomatic crisis between the two countries began during the work of the “remotely” meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was held on July 13 and 14, when Lamamra raised the issue of the Sahara. The issue was at the meeting, then talked about the "right to self-determination of the Kabyle people", which the Algerian authorities considered as support for a movement they describe as "terrorist", based in Paris and demanding what it calls the right to self-determination in the Algerian Kabylie region.
The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, had called on Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to "work together, at the earliest time he deems appropriate, to develop brotherly relations" between the two countries, and said that "the current situation of these relations does not satisfy us, is not in the interest of our peoples, and is not accepted by many." of countries."
In a speech at the end of July on the 22nd anniversary of his accession to the throne of Morocco, King Mohammed VI added, "We renew the sincere call for our brothers in Algeria to work together, without conditions, to build bilateral relations based on trust, dialogue and good neighborliness."
He said that neither he nor the current Algerian president, nor even the former president (Abdelaziz Bouteflika) are responsible for the decision to close the borders between the two countries since 1995, considering that "open borders are the normal situation between two neighboring countries and two brotherly peoples, because closing the borders is incompatible with a natural right." and an authentic legal principle enshrined in international conventions.