Algeria suspended Wednesday a “treaty of friendship […] and cooperation” concluded in 2002 with Spain.
It is at the end of a meeting of the Algerian High Security Council chaired by President Tebboune, that the announcement was made.
Spain regretted Algiers’ decision, adding it “considers Algeria a friend” and remained open “to developing the special relationship of cooperation between the two countries“.
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The treaty provided for the strengthening of political dialogue between Spain and Algeria and the development of cooperation in fields like economy, & education.
The move comes after Madrid altered its long-standing position on Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, to back Morocco’s autonomy project for Western Sahara. Algeriers called it a “violation of [Spain’s] legal, moral and political obligations“.
The vast desert area bordering the Atlantic and Mauritania is claimed by Rabat and Western Sahara. Western Sahara clings to a self-determination referendum that wasprovided by the 1991 ceasefire agreement reached under the mediation of the UN in order to settle the dispute. However, Morocco suggests autonomy under its sovereignty.
SOURCE: africanews.com