Algerian Swimmers Spark Border Tension Between Morocco and Algeria

The three young Algerians left the area known as the "Rocks", near the maritime border point of Saïdia, after unsuccessfully trying to illegally reach Ceuta from the city of Fnideq, where they had been arrested three times by Moroccan authorities.

According to witnesses, a lifeguard pursued the two youths by swimming and managed to catch up with them, asking them to identify themselves. They confirmed that they were Algerian and wished to return to their country after failing to reach the other shore.

Civil protection elements quickly intervened with a jet-ski to retrieve the lifeguard who had dangerously approached the maritime border point, in order to prevent him from being targeted by Algerian soldiers.

Subsequently, an Algerian soldier pointed his weapon at the young Algerians, mistaking them for Moroccans trying to enter Algeria illegally. Thanks to the urgent intervention of a Moroccan soldier who informed his Algerian counterparts that they were Algerian nationals, the worst was narrowly avoided.

This incident is reminiscent of the one that occurred when Algerian soldiers fired on four Moroccan tourists who were jet-skiing near the Algerian maritime border, resulting in the death of two of them and the arrest of a third. The fourth had survived.