Algeria wants relations with Morocco based on interests balance

Algeria said it wants its relations with Morocco be based on the balance of interests.

Algerian foreign minister, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, told Egyptian daily Al-Ahram that Algiers endeavors "in serenity to consolidate the neighborliness ties with our brothers in Morocco and to build these relations on the balance of interests."

Relations between Morocco and Algeria "are normal and we hope that they will be excellent," said Belkhadem, who recalled that Moroccan and Algerian interior ministers held three successive meetings, followed by meetings of specialized commissions to study "pending issues."

But this situation, he said, "should not alter fraternity between us and our brothers in Morocco."

Morocco and Algeria have always been at loggerheads because of Algiers' direct involvement in the Moroccan Sahara issue. Algeria backs the Polisario separatist guerrilla which claims sovereignty over Morocco's southern provinces.

Belkhadem also touched on the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), a regional grouping set up in 1989 by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. He noted that efforts are being made to revive the Union's specialized commissions. He added that the UMA follow-up commission will meet shortly in Algiers to prepare for a meeting of the five nations' foreign ministers.

UMA has been paralyzed mainly due to the Moroccan-Algerian dispute over the Sahara.