Diplomatic ties worsen as Algeria shuts its airspace from Morocco

Algeria has decided to “immediately” block its airspace to all Moroccan commercial and military planes, as well as planes registered in Morocco. The decision took effect on September 22nd, according to a statement from the Algerian presidency.

The decision was made during a meeting of the High-Security Council (HSC), which is committed to the study of “developments at the Kingdom of Morocco’s frontiers” and is led by Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Head of State and Minister of Defense. Following months of heightened tensions between the two Maghreb rivals, Algeria terminated diplomatic relations with Morocco on August 24.

Algeria’s air borders, which had been blocked since March 17, 2020, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, were only partially restored to seven nations on June 1, none of which included Morocco. To date, no direct commercial flights have existed between Algeria and Morocco.

Flights between the two nations have not resumed, and Algerians who wish to travel to Morocco are forced to travel through Tunis. The decision by Algiers will mostly affect Moroccan aircraft flying over Algerian territory shortly. According to a Royal Air Maroc source, the closure will affect only 15 flights per week between Morocco and Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey.

Minister Lamamra on Tuesday said that the break-in relations was a decision Algeria had to make to send Morocco the “right message” after “hostile acts” towards Algeria’s sovereignty and unity.” He described the decision as “a reasonable method to put a stop to a situation that could not go on any longer without causing damage and that risked pushing the two countries down an unwanted path.”

It was an “abnormal condition that had to be stopped someday. Morocco said Algeria’s decision to terminate ties was unwarranted and called Algeria’s justifications “fallacious and ridiculous.”

This is not the first time the two countries’ diplomatic ties have been severed. It was first severed on March 7, 1976, when Rabat took the initiative after Algiers recognized the Polisario Front’s self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).