A new phase of tensions could open between Algiers and Rabat. According to information from the site Maghreb Intelligence revealed on Friday March 15, the Moroccan government would have decided “to expropriate several real estate and land properties belonging to the Algerian state” in the Moroccan capital, “for the purposes of extending service premises under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rabat “.
According to the investigation site, this expropriation would concern a property of 619 m2, another area of 630 m2 housing a residence on two floors and offices on the ground floor, as well as a villa with an area of 491 m2 called “Villa of the Rising Sun”. Rabat, however, has not made an official announcement on this subject and no comments could be obtained by AFP from Moroccan diplomacy.
Condemnation “in the strongest terms”
“Algeria condemns this spoliation operation characterized in the most energetic terms,” said the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement published Sunday, adding that Algiers “will respond to these provocations by all the means it deems appropriate “. Algeria considers that “there is an unspeakable violation of respect and the duty of protection with regard to the diplomatic representations of sovereign States which protect both international law and custom,” continued the ministry.
As a reminder, Algeria had already severed diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021. Algiers had accused Rabat of “hostile acts” towards it. Several measures followed this rupture, including the closure of Algerian airspace to Moroccan planes, the closure of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline (GME), and more recently, the ban on the transit of goods imported from Algeria by the Moroccan ports.
The Western Sahara conflict, considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, in the absence of a definitive settlement, has also pitted Morocco against the Polisario for decades, of which Algeria is the main supporter. Rabat, which controls nearly 80% of Western Sahara, is proposing an autonomy plan under its sovereignty, while the separatists of the Polisario Front are demanding a self-determination referendum, planned by the UN when signing a 1991 ceasefire, but never materialized.