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The crisis worsens: Algeria closes airspace for flights from Morocco
Algeria said the decision was made due to the continued "hostility" on the part of the kingdom, a few weeks after the severance of relations with it.
Algeria claims that Morocco supports separatist forces in its territory, which are responsible for the huge fires.
The move will affect 15 weekly flights, which will bypass Algeria via the Mediterranean
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Algeria
Morocco
Reuters
Thursday, 23 September 2021, 15:47
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The border with Morocco has been closed since 1994. An old poster in Algeria of Algeria President Botflika after his death (Photo: Reuters)
Algeria's Supreme Security Council decided yesterday (Wednesday) to close its airspace to all flights from Morocco, both civilian and military, Algeria's Presidency announced less than a month after severing diplomatic relations with the kingdom.
The decision was made "in light of the continuing provocations and hostile policies on the Moroccan side," the statement said.
According to a statement from the Presidential Office after the council meeting, the closure of the airspace also applies to aircraft carrying a Moroccan registration number.
Morocco has not yet responded to the decision.
A source at Royal Air Morocco said the decision would affect only 15 weekly flights connecting Morocco to Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt.
The source described the closure of the airspace as unimportant and said that the same relevant flights could pass through the Mediterranean skies instead.
Algeria decided in late August to sever its diplomatic ties with Morocco, accusing it - and Israel after Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's visit to the kingdom - of supporting separatists in the country it claimed were responsible for the huge fires in which at least 65 people perished.
Morocco said at the time that it regretted the decision.
The border between Morocco and Algeria has remained closed since 1994. Algeria also has a system to stop its gas exports through a pipeline in Morocco, which was to be renewed later this year.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since last year, when the conflict in Western Sahara after years of comparative silence.
Morocco sees Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory, but Algeria supports the separatist Polisario movement.
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