Morocco's king calls again for open land border with Algeria

Written by Naoufel Cherkaoui

Wednesday, 06 August 2008

King Mohammed VI renewed Morocco's call for open land borders with neighbouring Algeria on Wednesday (July 29th) during his Throne Day address to the public. "We will continue to take honest initiatives and respond to all goodwill intentions in order to normalise Moroccan-Algerian relations," the king said in his speech. The land border between Morocco and Algeria was closed in 1994 after Morocco blamed Algeria for bombings in the city of Marrakech and imposed visa requirements on Algerian citizens wishing to visit Morocco. "Our ultimate objective," the king added, "is to respond to the aspirations of the new generations in order to harness the potential of both Moroccan and Algerian peoples... instead of wasting them in the labyrinths of some handed-down conflict that dates back to a bygone era." In March and May this year, Morocco issued calls to re-open the border. Moroccan businesses, particularly those located in the eastern part of the country near the border, have suffered from the closure. Algeria recently expressed a desire to rekindle neighbourly relations between the two countries. In his message congratulating the Moroccan monarch on the ninth anniversary of his accession to the throne, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika voiced his "unwavering intent to restore warmth to the sisterly relations binding both nations". Algeria has said in the past, however, that the re-opening of the border must be initiated as part of a comprehensive agreement between the two countries which, among other issues, resolves the conflict over the status of Western Sahara. "Regardless of the different viewpoints in any conflict," the king said, "this is no justification to keep borders closed." Referring to the stalled Arab Maghreb Union, the king added that "the union of our nations into a bloc would make them a robust pole for security, stability, progress and prosperity, as well as an active member in larger blocs". Some Algerian officials have said publicly that re-opening the border would cause problems for Algeria. "While subsidized food supplies are smuggled out to be sold in Morocco," former Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadam said, Algeria "receives drugs, alcohol and faked substances from the latter that are hazardous to citizens’ health and to the economy of the homeland." Some Algerian political parties, however, said in June that they hope to change the minds of the authorities in Algiers. Said Saadi, head of the opposition party Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), denounced Algeria’s stance. "While insisting on keeping borders closed with Morocco," Saadi said, Algeria has asked the EU to permit Algerians to move freely across Europe's borders. Keeping the land borders closed, Sadi added, shows "Algeria’s determination not to allow any contacts that can create democratic dynamism among political and social activists in the region". Karim Tabou, first secretary of the opposition Front of Socialist Forces (FFS), also called in June for the border to re-opened. "[R]e-opening borders with Morocco is an important issue and in every sense essential to the building of an Arab Maghreb that would transcend geographic borders," he said. Referring to the EU and the nascent Union for the Mediterranean, Tabou added that the re-opening of the border "has become an urgent necessity especially now that political blocs have appeared on the international arena". This time around, the Moroccan king's call to re-open the borders triggered little reaction in Algeria, where the official position apparently remains the same. Algerian foreign minister Mourad Medelci noted earlier, "We are willing to open borders with Morocco in the future, but appropriate conditions must be set through constant dialog." Magharebia

 

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