Morocco renews will to relaunch Maghreban union

Morocco renewed on Thursday its desire to relaunch the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), a regional grouping frozen due in part to divergences between Morocco and Algeria.

Morocco is determined to spare no effort to relaunch UMA activities, Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi said at a meeting in Madrid with leaders of Spanish political parties.

UMA -- set up in Marrakesh in 1989 by Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia -- has been paralyzed since 1994 due to strained relations between Morocco and Algeria over Algiers' direct involvement in the Sahara issue.

In his meeting with Spanish political leaders, Youssoufi said the reopening of borders between Morocco and Algeria represents a first step towards detente between the two states.

Algeria decided to close its borders with Morocco in retaliation to a Moroccan decision to impose visa requirements to Algerian nationals wishing to visit Morocco. The Moroccan decision was taken following a 1994 terrorist attack perpetrated by Algerian-born French nationals against a luxury hotel in Marrakesh. Two Spanish tourists were killed in the attack.

Since his appointment as prime minister of Morocco in 1998, Youssoufi has repeatedly called on Algeria to reopen the borders and start a new page of reconciliation. But the Algerians have so far abstained from any concrete move towards detente, restricting themselves to the argument that Moroccan-Algerian relations should be reviewed in a global approach.