Moroccan foreign minister conveys royal message to Algerian president

Moroccan minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa, conveyed this Thursday a message from King Mohammed VI to Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The Moroccan official who arrived on the same day in Algiers told the media he was commissioned by the king to inform the Algerian head of state on latest developments in bilateral relations and to exchange viewpoints on bilateral issues and other regional topics.

On the morrow of the election last April of Bouteflika as Algerian president, relations between Morocco and Algeria started to improve. The late king Hassan II and the Algerian president had exchanged warm messages, heralding a new page in bilateral relations.

Relations between the two neighboring countries strained in view of Algeria's backing to the "Polisario" guerilla movement which is claiming the independence of Moroccan southern provinces. Bilateral relations worsened in 1994 when a group of Algerian-born French nationals were found guilty in a terrorist attack against a luxury hotel in Marrakesh and which cost the life of two Spanish tourists.

Following the attack, Morocco imposed entry visa for Algerians and Algeria in turn closed its land borders with Morocco.

President Bouteflika said earlier this week in an interview with a Kuwaiti daily that relations between Morocco and Algeria will be normalized in "a very near future."