Upcoming visit of Algerian PM 'untimely', foreign ministry

The visit that Algeria's Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia was to pay to Morocco (June 21-22) is "untimely" because of the current state of Morocco-Algerian relations, a communique of the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said Thursday.

The recent stances of the Algerian authorities are in "sheer contradiction with the bilateral normalization objectives," explained the release, deploring that such stances do not serve a rapprochement between member countries of the Maghreb Arab Union (UMA) countries: Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Morocco and Algeria are at loggerheads because of the recent Algerian declarations against the kingdom's territorial integrity.

The Algerian statements - which express staunch support to the separatist movement, "Polisario" that claims the separation of Morocco's southern provinces (Sahara) from the rest of the kingdom- caused the postponement of the UMA Summit, initially scheduled for May 25-26 in Tripoli, Libya.

The Foreign Ministry said the Algerian positions also oppose "the bilateral commitments" voiced at the highest level "to work towards developing bilateral and Maghreban relations" while entrusting the UN with the task of finding a "political and definite solution to the Moroccan Sahara dispute."

"Waiting for a coherent Algerian position, and a clarification of the true intentions (...) as to Algerian relations with Morocco," the upcoming visit of the Algerian Prime Minister, and the delegation accompanying him seems "for the time being, untimely," concluded the communique.