It is a new diplomatic rupture between Algiers and Rabat. Algeria decided Wednesday, September 22 the closure “Immediate” from its airspace to all Moroccan civil and military aircraft as well as to aircraft registered in Morocco, the presidency announced.
This decision was communicated at the end of a meeting of the High Security Council (HCS), chaired by the Head of State Abdelmadjid Tebboune and devoted to the examination of the situation on the border with Morocco. The decision to close the airspace has been taken “Taking into account the continuation of provocations and hostile practices on the part of Morocco”, specified the press release.
Western Sahara dossier
On August 24, Algeria severed diplomatic relations with Morocco, after months of heightened tensions between these two rival Maghreb countries. Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra then criticized Rabat for “Never to have stopped carrying out hostile actions against Algeria”. “The Moroccan security services and propaganda are waging a despicable war against Algeria, its people and its leaders”, he said.
Traditionally difficult, relations between Algeria and its Moroccan neighbor have experienced 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 American recognition of the “Sovereignty” Morocco on Western Sahara, further heightened tensions with Algeria, support of the Palestinian cause, which denounced “Foreign maneuvers” aimed at destabilizing it.
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.
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