Algeria declares Morocco a ‘hostile’ country

BBC News
Ahmed Rouaba

It follows an investigation into the killing of man falsely accused of starting wildfires.

“The repeated hostile acts committed by Morocco against Algeria require a review of our relations and the intensification of border controls,” the Algerian president’s office said in a statement.

The decision was made in a meeting of the High Security Council assessing the damage caused by huge wildfires that hit the country.

The authorities have concluded the majority were “criminal acts”.

They accuse Morocco of “backing” a separatist group suspected of being involved in criminal activity in the Kabylie region, including the killing of a man falsely accused of starting forest fires.

The Algerian police investigating the killing of Djamel Bensmail by a mob in the province of Tizi Ouzou have released a video of suspects confessing to the crime and to being members of the MAK separatist group.