Region | Algeria
Morocco urges Algeria to normalise relations
Morocco's King Mohammad on Wednesday called on Algeria to normalise ties between the North African neighbours, saying their closed border was a "collective sanction" for the two peoples.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:02 July 31, 2008
Rabat: Morocco's King Mohammad on Wednesday called on Algeria to normalise ties between the North African neighbours, saying their closed border was a "collective sanction" for the two peoples.
Government officials in Rabat have been urging Algeria to improve relations since Morocco and Western Sahara's Polisario independence movement, backed by Algeria, ended a fourth round of talks near New York in March without narrowing differences on Africa's longest-running territorial dispute.
But it is the first time this year that King Mohammad appealed directly Algiers to re-open the border and mend ties. Morocco's government regards thawing ties with Algeria as the key to ending the deadlock over the dispute with Polisario.
"We will pursue efforts to take initiatives in all sincerity and listen to all efforts of good will so as to restore normal relations between Morocco and Algeria," King Mohammad said in a speech marking the ninth anniversary of him coming to the throne.
Algeria closed the border in 1994 after Rabat accused its security forces of involvement in a Marrakesh hotel shooting.
Algerian leaders have repeatedly said the border would remain shut until the two governments agreed on a "package of deals" that include a solution to the Western Sahara conflict.
"Whatever the differences of view over this conflict, they would not justify the continuing closure of the border. This unilateral measure is experienced as a collective sanction incompatible with historic brotherly links and at odds with the requirement of a common future and the necessity of the integration of the Maghreb region," the king said.
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