Morocco for consolidation of Maghreban cooperation

Morocco is in favor of anything likely to consolidate cooperation between the peoples of the Arab Maghreb and especially between Morocco and Algeria, said Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mohamed Benaissa.

Benaissa, who started on Tuesday a working visit to France, expressed hope in a statement to "Radio France International" (RFI) that the Moroccan and Algerian peoples will overcome "the rupture existing in such or such field."

Relations between Morocco and Algeria are strained due to Algeria's 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 borders with Morocco.

Benaissa told RFI that no concrete action in matters of cooperation can be undertaken with the borders closed.

Morocco is convinced that nothing is impossible in relations between peoples, all the more so when these peoples are bound by historical relations as those existing between Morocco and Algeria, Benaissa said.

Algeria and Morocco are both members of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) along with Libya, Mauritania, and Tunisia. UMA was set up in Marrakesh in 1989.