Algeria reimposes visa requirements on Moroccan nationals

TUNIS (Reuters) - Algerian authorities resumed visa requirements for Moroccan nationals entering the country on Thursday, state news agency APS reported, accusing its neighbour of abusing visa-free entries to allow criminal activities over the border in a fresh measure against Rabat.

The two countries had lifted visa entry requirements about 20 years ago.

Morocco has not yet commented on the move.

A dispute over the status of the Western Sahara has been at the heart of worsening ties between the two countries. Morocco views the Western Sahara as its territory, while Algeria hosts and backs the Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state there.

‮ ‬Algeria said‮ ‬on Thursday Morocco had abused the visa-free entry to "organize at a large scale networks of organised crime and drug and human trafficking as well as illegal immigration and acts of espionage", according to a Foreign Ministry statement quoted by APS.

It also accused Morocco of sending "Zionist" spies holding Moroccan passports to Algerian territory.

The statement did not provide any evidence supporting these accusations.

Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021, accusing its neighbour of "hostile acts" including backing a separatist group in the Kabylia region.

Algeria later halted the flow of a gas pipeline to Spain via Morocco, banned all Moroccan aircrafts from crossing its airspace and boycotted Moroccan ports.

Morocco has said‮ ‬several times that Algeria was unjustified in cutting ties and has described the accusations as absurd.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in 2023 that relations with Morocco had reached "the point of no return".

(Reporting by Tarek Amara)