07/11/2008
King Mohammed VI criticised Algeria's "obstinate refusal" to normalize its relations with Morocco and re-open the border closed in 1994, AFP and MAP reported on Friday (November 7th). Algeria's rejection of Moroccan steps to normalise relations is "quite illogical; as illogical, in fact, as the closed borders between the two sister nations", the king said Thursday in a televised speech marking the 33rd anniversary of the "Green March" of 350,000 unarmed Moroccans into Spanish-occupied Western Sahara.
Morocco is also genuinely willing to make a distinction between the regional dispute over the Sahara and a desire for improved bilateral relations with Algeria, the king added. He criticised Algeria on the Sahara issue, saying their "official policy...has been to thwart the positive thrust generated by the Moroccan initiative, using its energies to maintain the status quo, with the risk of balkanization of the Maghreb and Sahel regions".