Algeria Unilaterally Terminates Iron Deposit Agreement with Morocco, Former Ambassador Claims

In a statement to Algérie patriotique, the former Algerian ambassador confirmed that the cooperation agreement for the development of the Gara-Djebilet mine, signed on June 15, 1972 in Rabat, has indeed lapsed for both legal and political reasons. Recalling that this agreement, which is annexed to the agreement on the delimitation of the state border between Algeria and Morocco, was ratified on May 17, 1973 by Algeria. The former diplomat explains that it took twenty long years for Morocco to finally promulgate its ratification by the Dahir dated June 22, 1992.

"It should be noted that to date, and contrary to Algeria, Morocco has still not deposited the instruments of ratification of the agreement on the delimitation of the land border with the United Nations Secretariat, which, obviously, questions the sincerity and credibility of the commitments made by this country," notes the former Algerian ambassador, recalling that the Algerian-Moroccan political declaration signed on the same date, June 15, 1972, was essentially aimed, like the border agreement, at establishing the basis for a lasting peace and an era of harmony between the two countries.

In 1976, he recalls, Morocco had unilaterally decided to break off diplomatic relations with Algeria. "The rest is a long journey of denials, provocations and hostile actions towards our country," laments the former ambassador. And he concludes: "Paragraph 4 of the preamble to the cooperation agreement for the implementation of the Gara-Djebilet mine clearly states that Algeria is the owner of this mining deposit, located on its territory and under its full and complete sovereignty."