Next Algerian president shall address relations with Morocco, minister says

The Algerian president to be elected next April will have to address Algiers' relations with Morocco and with the other Maghreban countries, a Moroccan minister said.

"Regardless of the outcome of the elections, the next Algerian president shall have to address the issue of Algiers' relations with Morocco and with the other Maghreban countries," Mohamed Yazghi, Moroccan minister of environment, urbanism and housing, told local daily "L'Opinion."

Presidential elections will be held next April in Algeria to succeed President Liamine Zeroual, who cut short his five-year term by 19 months.

Yazghi deplored the closure of borders between Morocco and Algeria saying the closure harms the two countries populations living in border areas.

The land borders between Morocco and Algeria were closed in 1994 at the initiative of Algeria which retaliated thus to Morocco's decision to impose an entry visa for Algerians after a group of Algerian-born French nationals perpetrated a terrorist attack against a luxury hotel in Marrakesh (Southern Morocco). The attack claimed the life of two Spanish tourists.

In his interview with "L'Opinion," Yazghi called for the promotion of inter-Maghreban relations to give the North African nations a leverage in their quest for partnership with the European Union (EU).

"Relations with Europe require that Maghreban countries join efforts and agree on a genuine partnership with the European Union," he said.

Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia have so far failed to translate the integration objectives of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) they set up 10 years ago into a homogenous and united group.

Morocco and Tunisia already concluded association accords with the EU, while Algeria is still negotiating a similar deal. The project seeks to establish free trade areas between the two sides of the Mediterranean by year 2010.

Libya and Mauritania are excluded from the process.