Algeria Slams Rival’s Migration Tactics, Touts ’Humane’ Approach

During his intervention, Saïd Sayoud not only presented the alleged efforts made by Algeria in the fight against illegal immigration. He took the opportunity to provoke Morocco without naming it. "Algeria does not use the card of irregular migration as a means of political pressure or blackmail, unlike certain other parties," said the Algerian Minister of the Interior and Transport. Algeria adopts a "humane" and "responsible" approach in the fight against irregular migration, he assured.

In May 2021, a human tide of more than 8,000 candidates for exile, mostly Moroccans, had joined the Spanish enclave of Ceuta without hindrance due to a relaxation of border controls by Morocco. The influx of these migrants "is an aggression against the Spanish borders but also the borders of the European Union," said the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, on public radio, denouncing a "blackmail" of Rabat that she had accused of "using minors".

In March 2022, Spain changed its position on the Sahara. A reaction long awaited by the Moroccan authorities. But this change of position had provoked the anger of Algiers.