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Rabat – After announcing last week that it would reconsider relations with Morocco, Algeria’s government has finally decided to effectively sever ties with its western neighbor.
The Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister Ramatane Amamra announced the news today at a press conference.
Algeria’s top diplomat dedicated the whole press conference to discussing recent developments on the Morocco-Algeria tension.
Ramtane accused Morocco of financing “terrorist organizations” to harm Algeria. The Algerian FM also explicitly suggested that Morocco caused the wildfires that broke out earlier this month in the Kabylia region.
Ramtane’s speech also reflected Algeria’s frustration with the recent decision to grant Israel observer status in the African Union, and he notably condemned Morocco for supporting the decision.
This is not the first time that the Algerian government has lashed out at Morocco for its rapprochement with Israel.
After Morocco’s decision to establish diplomatic ties with Israel in December 2020, Algeria turned to anti-semitism to attack what the country’s politico-military establihsment described as a Moroccan-Israeli collusion to wreak havoc in the Maghreb and the broader MENA region.
Ramtane’s Tuesday press conference followed and echoed a “high council” meeting that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune chaired just a week ago.
In the high council meeting, the Algerian government made it clear that Algeria will continue to turn a deaf ear on Morocco’s stated willingness to enter dialogue with Algeria to break the decades-long political stalemate between the two countries.
As forest fires swept through Algeria’s Kabylie region earlier this month, Morocco pledged to help its eastern neighbor by mobilizing two firefighting aircrafts. But the Algerian president declined Morocco’s offer, preferring instead to accuse the country of colluding with anti-government groups to ignite said forest fires.
Without providing any proof or details, the Algerian presidency issued last week a statement in which it claimed that in addition to “helping” the perpetrators of the tragic forest fires, Morocco was the spearhead of a conspiracy to undermine Algerian interests.
“The incessant hostile acts perpetrated by Morocco against Algeria, have necessitated the review of relations between the two countries and the intensification of security controls at the western borders,” said the statement.
That such hard-hitting – but unevidenced – allegations came after Morocco’s King had personally instructed the government to fly to the rescue of a neighbor and “brother” in need lent considerable credence to the suggestion that the Algerian regime remains eager to use Morocco as a bogeyman.
“What affects Morocco will also affect Algeria, for the two countries are like one and the same body. This is because Morocco and Algeria are both suffering from the problems of migration, smuggling, drugs and human trafficking,” King Mohammed had said in his Throne Day speech late last month. Recent comments from the Algerian government paint a totally different picture of Algeria-Morocco relations, however.
In the past year alone, Morocco has repeatedly declined to respond to incendiary comments – including insults to the monarchy – from Algeria’s media and political class. At the same time, many in Morocco’s policy circles have long called for restraint and good-neighborliness, pinning their hopes on the notion of the “shared aspirations of the Algeria and Moroccan peoples.”
But with what appears to be a relentless Morocco-bashing campaign from the highest representatives of the Algerian government, it remains to be seen whether or how Morocco will respond to Algeria’s decision to cut ties.
