Bouteflika: I have always believed Moroccan-Algerian ties will improve
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 7/26/1999

"I have always believed that Moroccan-Algerian relations will some day improve. And that's what I have already started to do with the late King Hassan II and that's what I will continue to do with His Majesty Mohammed VI," Bouteflika who was in Rabat on Sunday to attend the funerals of the late King Hassan II told MAP news agency.

The Algerian President who described the demise of the late king as a grievous loss said he had "deep affection" for his brother King Mohammed ben Al-Hassan, the same affection, he said, "I harbored for his father, who was a friend and a brother in arms."

President Bouteflika said that he shared with the late king several standpoints, especially regarding the edification of the Arab Maghreb and that it was convened to hold a summit meeting before the end of the year.

"This is henceforth a task that both of us, myself and my brother His Majesty King Mohammed VI, should shoulder," Bouteflika said, adding "we, Moroccans and Algerians, should find the best way to overcome, with God's help, our difficulties."

Asked to assess Moroccan-Algerian relations, the Algerian President recalled that he had had "a series of contacts with the Late King Hassan II besides the written and oral messages that we had exchanged." "We were preparing the program for the normalization of bilateral relations," he said, underlining that he was ready "to continue these actions with my brother His Majesty King Mohammed VI."

"We are all aware of the heavy responsibility that we should shoulder and I shall carry on these actions with my brother H.M. King Mohammed VI."

Asked whether he intends to pay an official visit to Morocco, President Bouteflika said "I am currently in Morocco and I don't think there are protocol formalities between us. He conceded that a date of a visit will be set shortly.

"The nature of ties binding us wants it that the Algerian feels at home in Morocco and the Moroccan feels at home in Algeria," he said.

To a question on the opening of the Moroccan-Algerian borders, Bouteflika said "we will study this issue at the right time, but we look at the future with an optimistic eye."

Touching on his country's position on the Sahara issue, the Algerian President said "this issue is in the hands of the United Nations with the accords of the Houston meetings, chaired by James Baker, Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General." "This is a strictly U.N. problem," he added.

Surveying the ties he had with the late sovereign, the Algerian president said he has known Hassan II since 1959 and that the late king, his late father Mohammed V and all the alaouite family, with its men and women, had been associated to the Algerians in the liberation war.

President Bouteflika renewed his sincere sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the whole Moroccan people for the loss of a great leader, a loss, he said, "for Morocco, for the Arab and Islamic world and it would not be exaggerated to say for all humankind". "We, Moroccans and Algerians shall endeavor together to overcome this painful event," the Algerian president said.

Previous Stories:
  Algerian president voices affliction over King Hassan II demise   (7/24/1999)
  Morocco hails positive evolution of ties with Algeria   (7/23/1999)
  Visits expected between Algerian president, Moroccan monarch at end of July   (7/22/1999)

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