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” andremained open “to develop the special relationship of cooperation between the two countries“.
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.
