France is investigating the death of a French citizen, whose family is originally from Morocco, in an incident earlier this week on the border between this country and Algeria. The young man was allegedly shot by the Algerian coastguard when he was sailing with a jet ski, with three other friends, in waters near the city of Saidía, on the border, according to the French press and the Spanish agency EFE.

The accident, which has yet to be clarified, also involved three other Moroccan citizens, two of them also with French nationality. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported the death "of one of the citizens" and the imprisonment of another compatriot in the country.

"The crisis and support center of the Ministry and our ambassadors in Morocco and Algeria is in direct contact with the families of our citizens, to whom we bring our full support. We have expressed our condolences," said a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

The ministry claims to be in direct contact with the Moroccan and Algerian authorities and the incident has been notified to the Prosecutor's Office to investigate: "It will be up to the courts to clarify the circumstances of this tragedy," says the ministry, which has not detailed the circumstances of the accident.

The deceased is 29 years old and was born in the French town of Montfermeil, according to information from EFE. His body was recovered by the Royal Moroccan Navy. The rest of those involved returned to Moroccan territory and have assured that they were shot without warning.

"We got lost, but we continued until we found ourselves in Algeria. We knew we were there because an Algerian black zodiac came towards us. Then they have begun to zigzag, as if they wanted to make us overturn, "said the older brother of the deceased in statements to the Moroccan press, which collects Le Figaro.

This incident further strains relations between Rabat and Algiers, broken in 2021 after the dispute over Western Sahara, a territory occupied mostly by Morocco, worsened. Although at the moment no country has reacted officially, asked by the local press, the spokesman of the Moroccan Government, Mustapha Baïtas, has limited himself to saying that it is "a matter that is the competence of the judiciary".

A former colonial power, France maintains strong ties with Algeria, which are not without tension either. The latest focus was a few months ago, when Algiers recalled its ambassador in Paris for consultations after the country hosted the French-Algerian activist Amira Bouraoui, arrested in Algiers and who had fled to Tunisia.

  • Morocco
  • Algeria
  • France