Morocco army continues provocation on borders with Algeria

A delegation of the State’s properties department in Tlemcen province (west of Algiers) is expected to go to deal with the situation in the aftermath of an incident in the village of Boukanoun close to the Algerian- Moroccan borders on Saturday following the undue intervention of the Moroccan Royal Army.

• The army forces tried to prevent about 20 Algerian farmers of carrying out works to clean up a valley in the Algerian land. The claimed they can not use that valley only if an agreement to define the borders is reached.
• Many years ago, the farmers used to exploit the valley before it had become useless due to bad weather conditions.
• In 2007, an Algerian farmer was not allowed to set up a roadblock next to his house against smugglers.
• Observers believe that Morocco exercises ‘provocation’ while it insists on re-opening the borders with Algeria closed since 1994.
• On the other hand, Algeria says it will open the borders only if all the conditions are fulfilled.
• A farmer living in Boukanoun told Echorouk he wondered why the Moroccan authorities are ignoring smugglers on the borders while they come back to Morocco with no problem after being chased by Algerian border guards.