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Algerian Foreign Minister Ramdane Lamamra accuses Rabat of “hostile actions” while Algiers breaks off relations with its neighbor.
Algeria is severing diplomatic relations with Morocco, Foreign Minister Ramdane Lamamra said, accusing his neighbor of “hostile actions”.
Morocco and Algeria have enjoyed strained relations for decades, mainly over the question of Western Sahara.
“Algeria has decided to cut diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Morocco from today,” Lamamra said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“The Moroccan kingdom has never ceased its hostile actions against Algeria,” he said.
The cut of diplomatic relations is effective from Tuesday but the consulates of each country will remain open, said Mr. Lamamra.
Morocco’s foreign ministry could not be reached immediately for comment.
King Mohammed VI called for improved relations with Algeria.
Algeria said last week that the deadly forest fires were the work of groups it called “terrorists,” one of which was backed by Morocco.
The forest fires in Algeria, which erupted in a heatwave on August 9, burned tens of thousands of hectares of forest and killed at least 90 people, including more than 30 soldiers.
Algerian authorities have pointed to the fires against the independence movement in the mainly Berber region of Kabylia, which stretches along the Mediterranean coast east of the capital, Algiers.
Authorities also accused the Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK) of being involved in the lynching of a man falsely accused of arson, an incident that sparked outrage.
Algiers last week accused Rabat of supporting the MAK, which it describes as a “terrorist organization”.
“The incessant acts of hostility carried out by Morocco against Algeria have necessitated the revision of relations between the two countries,” a presidential statement said last week.
He also said there would be an “intensification of security checks at the western borders” with Morocco.
The border between Algeria and Morocco has been closed since 1994.
Algeria supports the Polisario movement which claims the independence of Western Sahara, which Morocco considers to be part of its own territory.
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