Algeria dismisses Morocco’s new claims of backing Polisario
Algeria has roundly rejected and denounced fresh claims by the Moroccan foreign minister that it played an “operational” role in alleged Iranian support for a pro-independence Western Sahara movement.
Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s top diplomat, had told the French-language Jeune Afrique weekly news magazine that Algiers offered more than a meeting venue for members of the separatist Polisario Front and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.
He had claimed that “Algeria has given more than its blessing. It has given an opening, backing and operational support.”
Rabat has accused Iran of using Hezbollah to support Polisario, a claim Tehran has sharply dismissed.
“Algeria strongly condemns and deplores the statements made by the Moroccan foreign minister in an interview, released yesterday in a Paris magazine,” the Foreign Ministry in Algiers said in a statement late on Sunday.
Algiers has criticized Rabat for not providing any evidence to support its claims, adding it continuously makes up “stories.”
Earlier this month, Morocco severed its diplomatic relations with Iran, with Bourita accusing Tehran and Hezbollah of training and arming Polisario members via the Iranian Embassy in Algeria.
Algeria, Iran and Hezbollah were all quick to reject the claims as baseless back then.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said there was no cooperation between Tehran’s diplomatic mission in Algiers and the Algeria-backed movement.
Hezbollah also blamed the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia for the diplomatic tensions, saying Rabat cut ties with Tehran under pressure from the trio.
In turn, Algeria summoned Morocco’s ambassador to protest the “unfounded” claims.
Rabat annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975, and has since then been in conflict with Polisario, which demands a referendum on self-determination and independence.
The movement, which aims to end Morocco’s presence in the Saharan region, recently said they sought to set up a “capital” in the region, prompting Rabat to caution it would respond with force.
Protests in Morocco as US-flagged ship carrying arms to Tel Aviv docks at Tangier
Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
Algeria votes with President Tebboune expecting easy re-election
Ex-Israeli war minister Gallant to head to US despite ICC arrest warrant
Iran’s foreign minister in Portugal to attend 10th UNAOC Global Forum
VIDEO | Israel puts Beirut under back-to-back assaults as Hezbollah says Netanyahu won’t succeed
A siege within siege: 130,000 children under 10 trapped in northern Gaza
Top general: Iran’s deterrent power evolved to address modern maritime threats
Israeli forces kill two young Palestinians in occupied West Bank raid
Hezbollah breaks record of anti-Israel ops; four million settlers run for their lives
Iran rejects involvement in murder of Israeli rabbi in UAE
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
