Moroccan Group Seeks International Justice for 1975 Expulsions from Algeria

45 years later, the Moroccan families who were legally residing in Algeria and had been expelled have still not obtained justice and compensation. Created in 2005, the association of "victims of arbitrary expulsion from Algeria" is determined to continue the fight. It has taken steps before the Algerian courts which have so far been unsuccessful. It now intends to turn to international justice. But at a time when relations have cooled between Algiers and Rabat, Hamid al Ati-Allah, president of this association, fears that Moroccans residing in Algeria may in turn be expelled, reports RFI.

On December 18, 1975, Algerian President Houari Boumediene had ordered the expulsion within 48 hours of Moroccans legally residing on his territory. Dubbed the "Black March", this operation resulted in the expulsion of nearly 45,000 Moroccan families. This decision had come in reaction to the Green March decreed by the late Hassan II to provoke the departure of the Spaniards from Western Sahara.

To this day, one of the points of friction between Rabat and Algiers remains the issue of the Sahara. Algeria continues to support the Polisario, its protégé, against Morocco.