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Algeria mulls Morocco King’s reconciliation offer with ‘caution’

August 3, 2021 at 12:48 pm

King Mohammed VI of Morocco in Rabat, Morocco on 30 March 2019 [ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images]

Algerian authorities are “carefully” considering a reconciliation offer made by Moroccan King Mohammed VI early on Saturday which included the reopening of borders.

Neither the Algerian presidency nor the Foreign Ministry had responded or commented on the Moroccan proposal yesterday, which came amid Algerian outrage after international media outlets revealed that Morocco had spied on its Algerian neighbour using the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware.

However, Algerian journalists and writers have warned their country against accepting the Moroccan king’s proposal.

Algeria’s Echorouk newspaper published an article rejecting the Moroccan proposal and warned against rapprochement with Rabat.

The paper set a number of conditions which it said should be met before the two neighbours can reconcile, including the immediate cessation of the media, cyber and diplomatic war waged against Algeria, stopping the flow of drugs from Morocco to Algeria and respecting Algeria’s position towards the Western Sahara.

Moroccan political parties gave the proposal a lukewarm welcome, with social media users questioning the reasons behind it.

Rabat: ‘Anyone who accuses Morocco of espionage must provide evidence’