LAS Ready To Help Settle Decades-Long Dispute Between Algeria, Morocco - Deputy Head

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2021) The League of Arab States (LAS) is ready to contribute to the reconciliation of Algeria and Morocco, whose decades-long dispute has culminated last month in severing diplomatic relations, Hossam Zaki, the organization's assistant secretary-general, said in an interview with Sputnik.

In late August, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra announced that his country had decided to sever diplomatic ties with Morocco due to the neighbor's "hostile actions" since the day of independence. Rabat responded by slamming the move as "unjustified and regrettable."

"This is very difficult ... Contradictions between the two countries have been existing for nearly 40 years. The relations were unstable � sometimes [they were] improving and sometimes worsening. The Arab League announced it has an opportunity and is ready to play a kind of positive role, but this will require the consent of both sides �� Algeria and Morocco," Zaki said.

The two North African nations have long been at odds over control of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was transferred under control of Morocco and Mauritania in 1973. Three years later, the Polisario Front, of which Algeria is considered to be the main backer, established the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on a very small part of the disputed territory. Morocco, which controls much of Western Sahara, has been pushing for the region's autonomy, while the United Nations and SADR have been in favor of a referendum on its self-determination.