TUNIS (Reuters) – Algerian authorities on Thursday resumed visa requirements for Moroccan citizens entering the country, state news agency APS reported, accusing the Algerian neighbour of abusing visa-free access to facilitate criminal activities across the border, in a new measure against Rabat.
The two countries lifted visa requirements about 20 years ago.
Morocco has not yet commented on the measure.
A dispute over the status of Western Sahara is at the heart of the two countries’ deteriorating ties. Morocco sees Western Sahara as its territory, while Algeria hosts and supports the Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state there.
Algeria said on Thursday that Morocco had abused the visa-free regime to “organize large-scale networks of organized crime, drug and human trafficking, illegal immigration and espionage,” a statement from the Foreign Ministry quoted by APS said.
The organization also accused Morocco of sending “Zionist” spies with Moroccan passports to Algerian territory.
The statement contained no evidence to support these allegations.
Algeria severed diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021, accusing the neighboring country of “hostile acts” including support for a separatist group in the Kabylie region.
Algeria later blocked the gas pipeline to Spain via Morocco, banned all Moroccan aircraft from flying through its airspace and boycotted Moroccan ports.
Morocco has repeatedly said that Algeria wrongly severed ties and called the accusations absurd.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in 2023 that relations with Morocco had reached “the point of irreparable damage”.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara)
