Algerian president calls for 'brotherly relationship' with Morocco

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has called for a thaw in tense relations with Morocco in a message of congratulations to mark Morocco’s 59^th year of independence.

 “I share in happiness with you and the Moroccan people and I cannot fail to renew my commitment to strengthening the brotherly relationship which ties together our countries,” said Bouteflika in a message to Moroccan king Mohamed VI.

The message is the first official statement by the Algerian president since his return from Grenoble for treatment for a heart condition which led to widespread speculation about the well-being of the ailing leader. Bouteflika, 77, stood for election for a fourth time in April this year.

The message comes weeks after Mohamed VI congratulated the Algerian president on the occasion of Algeria’s 60^th independence anniversary.

Calling on the construction of a unified Maghreb in a statement to Bouteflika, the Moroccan king expressed his “warm congratulations…to your brotherly people of continued hope and prosperity”.

Tensions between Algeria and Morocco were ongoing before Bouteflika came to power in 1999.

The two countries remain at logger-heads over the status of the Western Sahara, a region annexed by Morocco in the 1970s. Issues also plague the 1,600km Algeria-Morocco land border, one of the world’s longest closed frontiers.

The exchange of letters comes after a period of heightened strain with between the two governments. Algeria’s longstanding support for the Polisario Front, which demands Morocco’s withdrawal from the Western Sahara, led to a war of words between the countries in October.

In the same month, Morocco recalled its ambassador to Algeria in protest against shots fired by an Algerian border soldier aimed at Moroccan civilians.

In spite of the exchange of diplomatic niceties, the Moroccan-Algerian border remains closed, a situation which some experts say is unlikely to change in spite of popular support for such a move.

The Maghreb, of which Morocco and Algeria form a part alongside Tunisia, is one of the least economically integrated regions in the world. The Maghreb countries have the lowest intra-regional trade in goods in the world.