Algeria-Morocco Relations Reach 'Point Of No Return' - President

TUNIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd March, 2023) Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Wednesday that his country's relations with Morocco had reached "the point of no return."

"Relations between Algeria and Morocco have reached a point of no return, and our position is a reaction (to the actions of Rabat)," Tebboune said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

However, Algeria regrets that relations between the two neighboring countries "have reached such a level," the president added.

Western Sahara, a former colony of Spain, was transferred to the control of Morocco and Mauritania in 1975. A year later, the Polisario Front, a local nationalist movement, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on the territory of Western Sahara.

Since then, the Polisario Front has been fighting with the Moroccan forces over the control of the region. Currently, Morocco controls some 80% of Western Sahara, with 20% being under the control of the Polisario Front. An UN-brokered ceasefire deal was reached in 1991, and the UN Security Council voted in favor of holding a referendum to define the status of the territory. Algeria, which supports the nationalist liberation movement, has long been at odds with Morocco over the issue.