Morocco confiscating Algerian properties in Rabat

Morocco has reportedly confiscated property and land belonging to Algeria “for the purposes of expanding service buildings belonging to the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Arabi21 has reported.

The move comes as a further blow to relations between the neighbouring countries which severed ties with one another in August 2021.

The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decried the Moroccan “provocations” and said: “The Kingdom of Morocco has embarked on a new escalation phase in its provocative and hostile behaviour towards Algeria, similar to what was recently recorded of a project aimed at confiscating the headquarters of the state’s embassy.”

Algeria, the ministry added in a statement, “will respond to these provocations by all means it deems appropriate, and it will also resort to all available legal means and methods, especially within the framework of the United Nations, for the purpose of ensuring respect for its interests.”

On Friday, the Moroccan Intelligence website reported that the government in Rabat had decided to “confiscate several properties and land belonging to Algeria” in the Moroccan capital “for the purposes of expanding service buildings belonging to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rabat.”

The decision concerns a property with an area of ​​619 square metres, and another with an area of ​​630 square metres, which includes offices on its lower floor, while its first and second floors are allocated for housing. It also targets a villa with an area of ​​491 square metres, it added.

According to the same source, this decision was signed by Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, based on a proposal from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in consultation with the Ministry of Interior.

The decision, published in the Official Gazette on March 13, gave the owners of the properties in question two months to express their comments or objection to this measure.

Read: Where could the escalation between Algeria and Morocco lead?