The joint statement of 16 May 1988, which serves as a foundation and anchor for the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries, is drafted from such an ambitious and responsible perspective. It contains 4 essential parameters which constitute as many interrelated commitments that the Kingdom of Morocco accepted, without which the normalisation of relations between the two countries would not have been possible:
- It is historically and objectively established that the Kingdom of Morocco has never ceased to carry out hostile, unfriendly and malicious actions against our country and this since the independence of Algeria. This animosity, whose systematic, methodical and premeditated character is documented, began with the open aggression war in 1963, a fratricidal war unleashed by the Moroccan royal armed forces against Algeria, who just gained its national independence. This war, in which Kingdom of Morocco had engaged particularly lethal heavy armaments and equipment, cost 850 brave martyrs who gave their lives for the preservation of the territorial integrity of the country whose liberation they had contributed to.
- In spite of the serious wounds left by this armed confrontation, Algeria has patiently built up State-to-State relations with its Moroccan neighbour. A Treaty of brotherhood, good neighbourly relations and cooperation and a Convention delimiting the borders between the two countries have come, in Ifran in 1969 and in Rabat in 1972, to allocate the principle of the intangibility of borders inherited at independence.
- In 1976, Morocco abruptly broke off diplomatic relations with Algeria which had just, with some other countries, recognised sovreignely the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Twelve years later, the two countries decided in 1988 to normalise their relations and to place them in a historical perspective centred on the “community of destiny of the Algerian and Moroccan peoples” and on a future cooperation to be promoted between the two countries. This normalisation came about after the meritorious efforts of the Heads of State of good will, including the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd Ibn Abdelaziz, whose personal commitment to active mediation had made it possible to create a favourable political climate with a positive evolution of the situation.The joint statement of 16 May 1988, which serves as a foundation and anchor for the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries, is drafted from such an ambitious and responsible perspective. It contains 4 essential parameters which constitute as many interrelated commitments that the Kingdom of Morocco accepted, without which the normalisation of relations between the two countries would not have been possible:
- A willingness to promote permanent relations of peace, good neighbourliness and cooperation between Algerian and Moroccan peoples; and reaffirmation of the full validity of treaties, conventions and agreements concluded between the two countries;
- An effective contribution to the acceleration of the Great Arab Maghreb;
- A contribution to the closing of Arab ranks around the sacred cause of the Palestinian people, for the satisfaction of their national rights, including their right to the creation of a state in their homeland, and for the liberation of all occupied Arab territories, including the Holy city of El-Qods;
- Support for a “just and definitive solution to the Western Sahara conflict through a free and fair self-determination referendum in total sincerity and without any constraints”.
- Algeria refrains from interfering in the Kingdom of Morocco’s internal affairs as a matter of principle, and historically well-established attitudes on its part have made this abundantly clear, particularly in the context of serious politico-military crises that have shaken the stability and security of the Kingdom. For their part, the Kingdom of Morocco’s security and propaganda apparatuses are waging a low-level and wide-ranging media war against Algeria, its people and its leaders, not hesitating to fabricate fanciful scenarios, invent rumours and propagate defamatory statements. Even more seriously, a plenipotentiary member of the Kingdom has illustrated himself by a particularly dangerous and irresponsible drift by invoking a supposed “right to self-determination of the valiant Kabyle people”. Faced with a provocation that has reached its peak, Algeria has shown restraint by publicly asking for a clarification from a Moroccan competent authority. The deafening silence of the Moroccan party on this matter, which has persisted since the last one, is a clear sign of political endorsement by the highest Moroccan authority.
- Today, it is obvious that the Kingdom of Morocco has renounced, in whole or in part, in a serious and repeated manner, the four fundamental commitments which constitute the essential basis and the normative base on which the normalization of relations between the two countries is based. The Kingdom of Morocco has made its national territory a diplomatic franchise and a bridgehead to plan, organize and support a series of hostile and characterized actions against Algeria. The latest concern the senseless accusations and barely veiled threats made by the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs during a state visit to Morocco and in the presence of his Moroccan counterpart who was clearly the instigator of such unjustifiable remarks. We must realize that never since 1948 a member of an Israeli government has never been heard to make judgments and utter messages against an Arab country from within another Arab country. This unequaled performance of State of Morocco, contrary to the coherence of history, is indicative of an extreme hostility and a headlong rush without discernment or limits. In terms of national security, the fact for the Moroccan authorities to introduce a foreign military power in the Maghreb area and to incite its representative to make fallacious and malicious remarks against a neighboring country, constitute a serious and irresponsible act which violates the provisions of Article 5 of Treaty of brotherhood, of good neighborly relations and cooperation as well as the commitments made under the joint statement of 16 May 1988.
- These hostile actions also concern the active and documented collaboration of the Kingdom of Morocco with two terrorist organisations known as MAK and RACHAD whose latest heinous crimes are linked to their alleged involvement in the fires that ravaged several provinces in the country and in the abject torture and murder of our compatriot Djamel Bensmail. The no less serious case of the Pegasus scandal has brought to light the massive and systematic spyware under which fell Algerian officials and citizens targeted by the Moroccan intelligence services have been subjected. In fact, the list is long and ranges from the unilateral imposition, unjust and unjustified regarding visa regimes to Algerian nationals in 1994 (including foreign nationals of Algerian origin) as a result of the attack in Marakech committed by a network of Moroccan terrorists and foreigners to the unjustifiable violation of the Consulate General of Algeria in Casablanca, with the desecration of the national flag on a certain 1st November 2013; this serious attack on the symbols and values of the Algerian people did not give rise to any apology or explanation, and its perpetrator, an activist from a so-called “Royal Youth”, received an outrageously lenient sentence of two months’ suspended prison for an act perpetrated against an internationally protected institution of sovereignty, complacently described as “infringement of private property” (sic).
- with regard to the commitment to hold a referendum on self-determination in the Western Sahara, the Kingdom of Morocco has denied it, although it was solemnly undertaken by King Hassan II and recorded in the official documents of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations, and the current leaders of Kingdom are now under the illusion that they can impose their diktat on the international community regarding an alleged preeminence and exclusivity of their thesis of autonomy. After having failed, systematically and by making use of a singular bad faith, all the international efforts carried out under the aegis of the United Nations, the Kingdom of Morocco thus destroyed all trust in his word and in his signature while it pretends to support the United Nations whose responsibility is fully and irreversibly engaged in the search for a mutually acceptable solution for both parties, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, which guarantees the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.
- In terms of the commitment to accelerate the construction of the Maghreb, and after the creation of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) as a regional organization set up as an extension of the normalization of Algerian-Moroccan relations, the Kingdom of Morocco proves itself to be the country Member of the Union which has ratified the smallest number of agreements with the exclusion of structuring agreements. More revealing still, Morocco decided unilaterally, on 20 December 1995, to the freezing of the activities of the institutions of the Arab Maghreb Union dooming the latter to a slow death.
- Obviously, the Kingdom of Morocco has undermined, systematically and durably, the consensual basis on which the two countries have traced the course and the harmonious contours of a relationship built on good faith, mutual trust, good neighborliness and cooperation. In doing so, its leaders bear a very heavy responsibility in the succession of crises, the seriousness of which is only increasing, and which unconditionally devote the Algerian-Moroccan relationship to painfully follow a narrow path alongside the abyss. The Moroccan attitude condemns the peoples of the region of misunderstanding and confrontation. This attitude dangerously jeopardizes the present and the future of our peoples. The public and solemn questioning of the said attitude by Algeria highlights the urgent need for the prevalence of reason instead of the bet on the worst which seems to animate the stance of the Kingdom of Morocco towards Algeria.
In any case, Algeria refuses to endure reprehensible behavior and acts which it strongly condemns. Algeria refuses unilateral accomplished facts with disastrous consequences for the Maghreb peoples. Algeria refuses to continue to maintain a false normality having the effect of maintaining the Maghreb group in a situation of serious precariousness, at odds with international law.
Therefore, and on the basis of all these factors and data, Algeria has decided to sever the diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Morocco with immediate effect.
Thank you for your time.
