Algeria closes its airspace to all Moroccan planes
A Boeing 737 NG / Max of the Moroccan company Royal Air Maroc (Illustrative image).
PASCAL PAVANI / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Algeria decided on Wednesday the “
immediate
”
closure
of its airspace to all Moroccan civil and military aircraft as well as to aircraft registered in Morocco, the Algerian presidency announced.
Advertising
Read more
"
The High Security Council (HCS) has decided to immediately close the airspace to all civil and military aircraft as well as those registered in Morocco
", according to an official statement.
This decision was announced after a meeting of the HCS with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and devoted to examining the situation at the borders with Morocco.
Algiers evokes "hostile practices" on the part of Rabat
The decision to close the airspace was taken "
in view of the continuing provocations and hostile practices on the part of Morocco,
" the statement said.
On August 24, Algeria severed diplomatic relations with Morocco, after months of heightened tensions between these two rival Maghreb countries.
The Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, then criticized Rabat for "
having never ceased to carry out hostile actions against Algeria
".
"
The Moroccan security services and propaganda are waging a vile war against Algeria, its people and its leaders,
" he accused.
Traditionally difficult, relations between Algeria and its Moroccan neighbor have suffered a recent deterioration due, in particular, to the thorny issue of Western Sahara.
The normalization of diplomatic relations
between Morocco and Israel
- in return for an American recognition of Moroccan "sovereignty" over this territory - has further heightened tensions with Algeria, support for the Palestinian cause, which denounced "
maneuvers
".
foreign countries
”aimed at destabilizing it.
► To read also: Algeria and Morocco at daggers drawn on many subjects
Diplomatic ties had been severed for the first time between the two countries when, on March 7, 1976, Rabat ended its relations with Algiers, which had recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), self-proclaimed by the separatists of the Polisario Front.
(With AFP)
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
Aeronautics
Transport