Wednesday's move comes after Algiers broke off diplomatic ties
with Rabat on 24 August, accusing it of "hostile actions" following
months of heightened tensions between the two North African countries.
Morocco called the severing of ties "completely
unjustified" and said the decision was based on "false, even absurd
pretexts".
Relations between the neighbours have been tense for decades
due to Algeria's support for the Polisario Front, which demands a
self-determination referendum in Western Sahara, while Morocco, which controls
around 80 percent of the desert territory, has offered only autonomy.
The Algerian presidency said in a statement on Wednesday
that the decision had been made "to shut its airspace immediately to all
civilian and military aircraft as well as to those registered in Morocco".
The decision was announced after a meeting of the High
Security Council chaired by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, AFP reported.
The presidency said the meeting examined the situation on
Algeria's border with Morocco and took into account "the continuation of
provocations and hostile practices by Morocco," without providing details.
'Civilised way'
The decision will not have a major immediate effect because
Algeria closed off air links in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reopening
to seven countries in June, of which Morocco was not one.
A source close to the state-owned carrier Air Algerie said
no direct commercial flights between Algeria and Morocco had flown since.
"Algerians travelling to Morocco transfer via
Tunis," the source said on condition of anonymity.
The decision will more immediately effect Moroccan flights
that have routes over Algerian territory.
A source at Royal Air Maroc (RAM) told Reuters the closure
would only affect 15 flights weekly, linking Morocco with Tunisia, Turkey and
Egypt.
The source, who asked to remain anonymous, described the
impact on RAM as insignificant and said the relevant flights could reroute over
the Mediterranean.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra told CNN
International on Tuesday that cutting diplomatic ties was "sending the
right message" to Morocco.
"This is a civilised way of putting an end to a
situation that could not last anymore without running the risk of costing more
casualties and taking the two countries into a path that would not be
desirable," said Lamamra.
'Unnatural confrontation'
In July, Morocco's King Mohammed VI deplored the tensions
and invited Tebboune "to make wisdom prevail" and "work in
unison for the development of relations" between the neighbouring
countries.
Earlier this month, more than 200 Moroccan and Algerian
civil society figures also appealed for a "return to reason" after
Algiers' decision to cut diplomatic ties.
Intellectuals, academics and other civil society actors,
most of them Moroccan, signed a petition rejecting the "current situation
which could lead to an unnatural confrontation... contrary to the interests of
the two peoples and the region".
Algeria is the key foreign backer of the Polisario Front,
which has for decades fought Morocco for the independence of Western Sahara.
Morocco sees the former Spanish colony as an integral part
of its territory.
The sparsely-populated desert territory boasts significant
phosphate resources and a long Atlantic coastline with access to rich fishing
waters.
Algiers was also angered by Morocco's normalisation of ties
with Israel last year as a quid pro quo for US recognition of Moroccan
sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Rabat had severed diplomatic relations with Algeria in 1976
for several years after Algiers recognised the Sahrawi Arab Democratic
Republic, proclaimed by the Polisario.
The border between Morocco and Algeria has been closed since
1994 and Algeria has indicated it will divert gas exports from a pipeline
running through Morocco, which was due to be renewed later this year.
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