Algeria re-introduces visa requirements on Moroccans
On September 26th Algeria announced it was re-imposing visa requirements on Moroccans, saying that some of its passport holders had committed crimes including “Zionist espionage,” in a move that continues the downtown in relations between the two countries, according to the Arab News via AFP.
Algeria’s official APS news agency stated that Morocco had “engaged in various actions that threaten Algeria’s stability.” Morocco was accused of having “deployed Zionist espionage agents holding Moroccan passports to freely enter the national territory,”
and had been conducting “multiple networks of organized crime, drug and human trafficking, not to mention smuggling and illegal immigration” within its borders.
Earlier in September authorities in Tlemcen in Algeria announced they had arrested seven people for belong to a spy ring, of whom four where Moroccan.
Algeria cut off diplomatic ties with its neighbour in 2021 – a move Morocco described as “completely unjustified,” with Algiers citing “hostile acts,” just months after Rabat normalised relations with Tel Aviv. The year before, US President Donald Trump had recognised Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara in return for the agreement with Israel.
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The border between Algeria and Morocco has not been open for 30 years but, despite the lack of direct flights, neither Moroccans nor Algerians needed a visa to enter the other’s territory.
While Morocco didn’t comment on the move, Algeria said it was “committed to preserving ties” with the “brotherly” Moroccan people, and blamed Rabat for recent diplomatic rifts.
“The Moroccan regime alone bears responsibility for the current deterioration of bilateral relations due to its hostile and aggressive actions against Algeria,” it said.
Sticking points between the two countries include the Western Sahara, where Algeria supports the Polisario Front’s campaign for independence, and alleged support from Morocco for the MAK Berber separatist group in Algeria, who seek independence for the Berber Kabylie region east of the capital..
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The Polisario Front has campaigned for West Saharan independence since colonial ruler Spain pulled out in 1975 but the territory is largely controlled by Morocco. The UN regards it as a “non-self-governing territory.”
After French President Emmanuel Macron said in July that “the only solution” was a territorial autonomy within Morocco without the option of independence, Algeria recalled its ambassador.
AFP
