Diplomats, Journalists Slam Algerian Junta’s Hostile Attitude towards Morocco

Diplomats and journalists denounced, on Thursday, the hostile attitude of the ruling Algerian junta towards Morocco, arguing that the real enemy of the Algerian people is Algeria itself, namely its army. The diplomats’ statement came during a conference held on the occasion of publishing a book bearing the title “Algérie; l’instabilité politique éternise la rupture avec le Maroc” (Algeria: Political Instability Perpetuates Rift with Morocco) and the Arabic version of “Maroc-Algérie: La méfiance réciproque” (Morocco-Algeria: Reciprocal Mistrust) by journalist and author Taieb Dekkar On this occasion, the diplomats, including former ambassadors, asserted that the Algerian regime’s hostility toward Morocco is “longstanding, constant, persistent and unrelenting” and is manifested in the statements of political leaders and media of all stripes. They pointed out that the Algerian regime has been “disoriented” since the El Guergarate episode, noting that “it is accumulating failures, trapped in the immutable and retrograde pattern it set for itself in 1975 and from which it has been unable to deviate, incapable of making heart-rending choices and responding to Morocco’s outstretched hand.” “We must put an end to the abuse and the fabrication of false accusations aimed at perpetuating hatred against Morocco,” said the participants in this conference organized by the Diplomatic Club and the National Library of the Kingdom, regretting that the Algerian press is “so unanimous in its hatred of Morocco.” Speaking at the event, Dekkar, former correspondent of the Moroccan News Agency (MAP) in Algiers, explained that “the rift between Algeria and Morocco was decided by the Algerian army, which continues to antagonize the Kingdom in its national cause and elsewhere.” “The solution, in my opinion, lies in the democratization of Algeria,” he said, adding that what is needed is “a true democracy that restores the voice of the Algerian people, a democracy to which the Hirak and others aspire.”