Algeria’s President Warns Moroccan Residents Amid Rising Tensions

As usual, Algeria will probably bring false espionage charges against Moroccans residing on its territory to justify their expulsion. "The justifications presented by Abdelmadjid Tebboune to impose visas on Moroccans continue to promote the existence of an external conspiracy aimed at undermining Algerian national security, the same conspiracy on which the regime had bet and had strongly disseminated before the last elections to encourage voters to participate and divert attention from the high rate of boycott of these elections," explained to Hespress Oualid Kebir, an Algerian opposition journalist.

He will add: "these statements directly imply that any Moroccan entering Algeria or residing there is suspect and could be accused of espionage simply for being in public places or taking photos in these places". According to the Algerian journalist, Algeria is only evoking "imaginary conspiracies directed against it from Morocco and Israel", noting moreover that "Paris’ support for the autonomy proposal in the Sahara has dealt a blow to this regime and its position in favor of the separation of the southern provinces of the Kingdom of Morocco".

In the same vein, Chawki Ben Zahra, an Algerian opposition politician, said that "the Algerian decision to impose a visa on Moroccans is above all a political decision, which has no security objective as claimed by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune". He sees proof in the term "mere suspicions" used by the Algerian president, also noting that "Tebboune’s remarks contain a direct warning addressed to Moroccans residing in Algeria, whom he has warned against entering what he called labyrinths, which constitutes a prelude to restrictions against them".

"The regime wanted Morocco to react and also take similar measures, in order to legitimize the targeting of Moroccans and their imprisonment on false charges," said Ben Zahra, arguing that by describing the Moroccan authorities as "Makhzen", President Tebboune shows the "obsession" of the Algerian authorities for the kingdom, a country which, according to him, "does not say what it does not do, while all its political conduct, particularly with regard to the Sahara issue, shows the opposite".