Maghreb: Algeria quarrels with Morocco, accused of "hostile acts"

Algeria is hardening its relations with Morocco, which it accuses of being involved in the deadly fires that have ravaged the north of its territory.

"The incessant hostile acts perpetrated by Morocco against Algeria have necessitated the revision of relations between the two countries and the intensification of security controls at the western borders", states a press release from the Algerian presidency released on Wednesday, without further clarification.

This decision was taken during an extraordinary meeting of the Algerian High Security Council, chaired by the Head of State Abdelmadjid Tebboune and devoted to the assessment of the situation after the gigantic forest fires which killed at least 90 people. in the north of the country.

President Tebboune said most of the fires were of "criminal" origin.

Read alsoYoung man lynched in Algeria: five minutes to understand a case that has become political

Algerian leaders accused a Paris-based Kabyle independence organization of being involved in these fires and in the lynching of a man wrongly accused of pyromania in Kabylia, the region most affected by the fires, in the northeast of the country. They also questioned the Islamo-conservative Rachad movement established in London. These two movements, bête noire of Algerian power, are illegal in Algeria where they were classified as "terrorist organizations" on May 18th.

The Kabyle independence opposition called Wednesday for an international investigation into the deadly fires in Algeria and the lynching of a young man falsely accused of pyromania, denying any responsibility for the disasters and seeing the hand of the Algerian authorities. Aksel Ameziane, spokesperson for "Anavad" or "Kabyle Provisional Government", rejected accusations by Algerian leaders that the movement is behind the fires.

According to the spokesperson, the recent fires are part of a plan "well put together" by the Algerian authorities. "When we see 50 synchronized fire starts, the fire that starts in ridges ... We need means to do that," he points out. According to the Algerian authorities, the majority of fires which have struck Algeria are of “criminal” origin, without however proof having been provided so far.