Rabat renews call on Algiers to open borders with Morocco

Rabat again called on Algeria to open its closed borders with Morocco.

The call was launched by Moroccan Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi at a meeting he chaired last Friday in the small desert town of Figuig (Eastern Morocco), near the borders with Algeria.

"I seize the opportunity of being here among you in this Moroccan and Maghreb oasis to renew the call of brotherhood to reopen borders" between Morocco and Algeria, Youssoufi said.

Relations between Morocco and Algeria are strained due to Algeria's direct involvement in the Sahara issue and after Algerian-born French nationals perpetrated in 1994 a terrorist attack against a luxury hotel in Marrakesh (Southern Morocco).

Morocco imposed afterwards an entry visa for Algerians wishing to visit the Kingdom while Algeria retaliated by closing land border with Morocco.

The Moroccan socialist premier, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, has launched repeated calls to Algeria to start a new page with Morocco through the opening of the borders and the suppression of visa requirements, but The Figuig call is Youssoufi's first reconciliation call on Algeria, since the election last week of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

During the Figuig meeting, Youssoufi highlighted the message of congratulations that King Hassan II sent to President Bouteflika following his election.

"We are all called, before the present and mounting generations, to endeavor earnestly to help the Maghreban region face up the challenges of our era," Youssoufi said.