Relations between Morocco and France have experienced strong tensions in recent years for various reasons, including the rapprochement with Algeria, Morocco’s neighboring rival, and Paris’s reluctance to recognize the Moroccanness of the Sahara, as already done by the United States, Spain, Israel and Germany. Today, the power of Emmanuel Macron is working to turn the page on tensions.
Contrary to the information contained in the statement issued by the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, official Algerian documents attest to the discussions between Morocco and Algeria regarding the expropriation of Algerian state property in Rabat .
While Algiers condemns through its press agency what it calls "a project to confiscate the premises of the Algerian state embassy in Morocco" and describes as "an unqualifiable violation", Rabat provides clarifications.
Information indicates the exploitation and mistreatment of Moroccan artisans legally established in Algeria or finding themselves in an irregular situation in the country.
The expropriation of properties belonging to Algeria in Morocco is legal and in accordance with international law, explained Professor Abderrahim El Manar Esslimi, president of the Maghreb Center for Security Studies and Policy Analysis.
The People’s National Army (ANP) remains on maximum alert to face security threats and challenges in the region (an allusion to Morocco), said Thursday General Saïd Chengriha, the Algerian army chief of staff.
The expropriation of real estate properties of the Algerian state located in the center of Rabat is imposed on the government of Aziz Akhannouch.
Algeria has strongly condemned the project to confiscate the premises of its embassy in Morocco, threatening that it "will respond to these provocations by all means it deems appropriate".
The Algerian authorities would be worried about the idea that rich Algerian businessmen who have fled the country are settling in Morocco and could shake up the power in place a few months before the next presidential elections scheduled for December 2024.
Morocco’s diplomatic advances on the Sahara issue are always viewed in a negative light in Algeria. The former Algerian minister, Abdelaziz Rahabi, who is also a former Algerian ambassador to Madrid, points to Rabat’s blackmail.
Aziz Akhannouch, the head of the Moroccan government, has signed a decision authorizing the expropriation by Morocco of property belonging to the Algerian state.
Hassan Abdelkhalek, former Moroccan ambassador to Algeria, reacted to the opening of the representation of the so-called Riffian National Party (PNR) in the upscale neighborhoods of Algiers , in Poirson, in a villa belonging to the authorities. This party had been created in Brussels (Belgium) in September 2023.