The Follow-up Committee of the Maghreb Social Forum (FSMagh), meeting in emergency session on September 27, 2024, expresses its disapproval and concern over Algeria's decision to impose an entry visa on Algerian territory on "all foreign nationals holding a Moroccan passport", according to Agence Presse Algérie (APS). On September 26, the latter published on its website snippets of a communiqué issued the same day by Algeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which the latter sets out the reasons why " impose a firm and strict control of all points of access to and stay on national territory "on the part of Algeria vis-à-vis Morocco.
Even though the APS article states that " Algeria had avoided calling into question the freedom and fluidity of the movement of people whenit decided to break off diplomatic relations with this country [Kingdom of Morocco] in August 2021", the decision to impose a visa requirement on all foreign nationals holding Moroccan passports affects members of mixed Algerian-Moroccan families more than tourists and migrant workers seeking to make a living in Algeria by honorable means.
This press release, which carries dramatic news for the brotherly peoples of both countries, was not published until today on the Algerian Foreign Ministry website, although the APS article was reproduced in full on the website of the Algerian Embassy in Paris.
The history of peoples teaches us that all diplomatic crises are surmountable: both Algeria and Morocco must settle their differences around the negotiating table, and at no time should peoples be the victims of the foreign policies of their respective governments.
The Forum social maghrébin (FSMagh) - a dynamic group of civil societies from the Maghreb countries, constantly campaigning and fighting for the realization of a Maghreb of peoples, united, free and democratic, for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the Maghreb region, for the opening of borders and for the emergence of a healthy and perennial Maghreb economic community - is deeply shocked and concerned by the content of the article-communiqué of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which penalizes Moroccan citizens as well as tens of thousands of Algerian-Moroccan families already torn apart by the closure of the land border for thirty years, by the suppression of air links between the two countries for three years, and now by this unilateral decision to introduce a consular visa with all its attendant humiliation, discrimination and violation of human dignity.
The Forum Social Maghrébin (FSMagh) is calling for urgent measures to bring the two governments closer together, for Algeria to introduce strict and rigorous control of access points to its territory, without introducing a visa policy, and for the Kingdom of Morocco not to apply reciprocity to citizens of Algerian nationality.
Over and above the economic stakes between the two countries, this escalation risks, if left unchallenged, shattering the relationship of friendship, solidarity and political symbiosis built up over the years of struggle against colonialism and during the years of independence between the brotherly peoples of Algeria and Morocco, through the exacerbation of opportunistic and chauvinistic inclinations and uncontrollable polemics in the digital age.
The FSMaghreb's raison d'être and objective is to build a Maghreb of peoples aspiring to unity, fraternity, peace, democracy and dignity.
