Algeria formally broke off diplomatic relations with neighboring Morocco on Tuesday, citing a series of alleged hostile acts including Rabat's recent rapprochement with Jerusalem.
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Algeria's Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said Tuesday that his country has severed diplomatic relations with Morocco due to its "hostile actions."
"Algeria has decided to break diplomatic relations with Morocco starting today," Lamamra said at a news conference, in which he read a statement from the president. "History has shown that the Kingdom of Morocco has never stopped carrying out hostile actions against Algeria," he added.
Morocco's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Algeria's decision to cut diplomatic ties with its neighbor was "completely unjustified," adding that the decision was based on "false, even absurd pretexts."
The move comes after Algeria last week said it would review its relations with Morocco after accusing it of complicity in deadly forest fires that ravaged the country's north.
The forest fires in Algeria, which broke out on Aug. 9 amid a blistering heatwave, burned tens of thousands of acres of forest and killed at least 90 people, including more than 30 soldiers.
The announcement comes nearly a week after Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said that "incessant hostile acts perpetrated by Morocco have meant the need for a revision in relations between the two countries and the intensification of security checks" at the western borders with Morocco, the official APS news agency reported.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abdul Gheit on Tuesday called on both to avoid further escalation. He expressed hope the two countries can maintain a "minimal level of ties" to ensure stability for themselves and within the region.
The authorities in Algeria have also accused the Movement for Self-determination of Kabylie (MAK) of involvement in the lynching of a man falsely accused of arson, an incident that sparked outrage.
Algeria last week accused Morocco of supporting the MAK, which it classifies as a terrorist organization.
"The incessant hostile acts carried out by Morocco against Algeria have necessitated the review of relations between the two countries," a presidency statement said last week.
It also said there would be an "intensification of security controls on the western borders" with Morocco.
The border between Algeria and Morocco has been closed since 1994.
Algeria's FM also accused Morocco's leaders of "responsibility for repeated crises" and behavior that has "led to conflict instead of integration" in North Africa.
Relations between Algiers and Rabat have been fraught in past decades, especially over the flashpoint issue of the disputed Western Sahara.
Morocco considers the former Spanish colony an integral part of its kingdom, but Algeria has backed the Polisario movement which seeks independence there.
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Last month, Algeria recalled its ambassador in Morocco for consultations after Morocco's envoy to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, expressed support for self-determination for the Kabylie region.
At the time, Algeria's foreign ministry said Morocco thus "publicly and explicitly supports an alleged right to self-determination of the Kabylie people."
Both countries are allies of western nations, and the move risked complicating diplomacy in the region. Both are important in the fight against terrorism in the nearby Sahel region.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
