The climbing starts again. Algeria decided on Wednesday the “immediate” closure of its airspace to all Moroccan civil and military planes as well as aircraft registered in Morocco, the presidency announced. The move comes a month after Algeria announced on August 24 that it had broken off diplomatic relations with Morocco, after months of heightened tensions between these two rival Maghreb countries.
“The High Security Council (HCS) has decided to immediately close the airspace to all civil and military aircraft as well as those registered in Morocco”, according to an official statement. This decision was announced at the end of a meeting of the HCS, chaired by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and devoted to examining the situation at the borders with Morocco. The decision to close the airspace was taken “in view of the continuation of provocations and hostile practices on the part of Morocco,” the statement said.
Breakdown of diplomatic relations
On August 24, Algeria severed diplomatic relations with Morocco, after months of heightened tensions between these two rival Maghreb countries. The Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, then criticized Rabat for “having never ceased to carry out hostile actions against Algeria”. “The Moroccan security services and propaganda are waging a vile war against Algeria, its people and its leaders,” he accused.
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 an American recognition of Moroccan “sovereignty” over this territory – has further heightened tensions with Algeria, support for the Palestinian cause, which denounced “maneuvers”. foreign ”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.