Border Dispute Escalates as Algeria Evicts Moroccan Farmers from Contested Oasis

"These lands belong to the tribes of Ksar Ouled Slimane. They have documents dating back to 1930. We are inheriting here a flaw of France on the borders between Morocco and Algeria. Families have invested their entire lives there. It’s scandalous!" declared to the magazine Le Courrier de l’Atlas Mostafa Serhir, founding member of the Federation of Figuig Associations in France, also president of the Hassaniya Association for Culture and Development in France, shocked by the suddenness of the decision.

Mostafa Serhir explains the genesis of the land problems between Morocco and Algeria. "Originally, the "true" border followed the railway line between Béchar, Beni Ounif and Figuig, he explains. But in 1962, France did a swap. The borders were then defined by the mountains. Then, little by little, a buffer zone was created between the mountains and the wadi and between the two countries. It was difficult to distinguish who was Moroccan or Algerian. Until now, there are still Moroccans in Algeria and vice versa," he says.

In 1972, Morocco and Algeria finally signed a convention on the border demarcation according to which it was clearly stated that the border is between the territories of the two countries, in particular the "nameless wadi". "This area is 4 kilometers from Figuig. South of this region, the border is determined by the mountain ridge between Beni ounif and Figuig. In the North of Figuig, the delimitation is the Wadi Al Arja. Each bank of the wadi belongs to a country. Historically, these lands belong to the ancestors of the inhabitants of Figuig," says Mohammed Jebbouri, a citizen of Figuig and president of the AFAQ association.

The border demarcation quickly becomes a source of confusion. After the agreement, the Algerians recovered lands near Ksar Zenaga and Ksar Loudaghir. Today, Moroccan farmers fin