Algeria condemns support of Morocco’s Ambassador to the UN on Kabyle people’s right to self-determination

Algeria strongly condemned on Friday what it described as a “serious deviation” committed by the Moroccan diplomatic mission to the United Nations (UN), after issuing an official memorandum in which Morocco expressly declared its support for the “Kabyle people’s right to self-determination.”

On Thursday, Moroccan media reported that the country’s Ambassador to the UN Omar Hilal called for “the independence of the Kabyle people” in Algeria.

Hilal’s call came after the Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra announced his support for the right to self-determination of the population of Western Sahara, which Morocco and the Polisario Front have been trying to control since 1975.

In response, the statement of Algeria’s Foreign Ministry announced: “The Moroccan diplomatic representation in New York handed an official memorandum to all member states of the Non-Aligned Movement, the content of which is officially devoted to demonstrating the Kingdom of Morocco’s involvement in an anti-Algeria campaign through public and explicit support for the right of alleged self-determination of the Kabyle people” who, according to the memorandum, “suffered the longest state of foreign occupation.”

The statement considered this memorandum to be: “A recognition of the multifaceted Moroccan support currently provided to a well-known terrorist group,” referring to the separatist Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK), which Algeria recently designated as a terrorist group, along with the Rachad Movement.

The statement pointed out that Morocco’s current support for MAK is no different from: “Backing the terrorists who shed the blood of Algerians in the Black Decade.”

Algeria described the Moroccan diplomatic statement as: “Reckless, irresponsible and manipulative.” It stressed that it is: “Part of a short-sighted, reductive and futile attempt aimed at creating a shameful confusion between the issue of decolonisation recognised as such by the international community and what is a mere conspiracy plotted against the unity of the Algerian nation.”

Algeria also considered that the Moroccan statement: “Directly contradicts the principles and agreements that structure and inspire Algeria-Morocco relations, in addition to flagrantly contradicting international law and the constitutive law of the African Union.”

Algeria strongly condemned what it described as: “A serious deviation, including the interior of the Kingdom of Morocco and within its internationally-recognised borders.”

The Algerian Foreign Ministry’s statement concluded by saying that in light of this situation arising from a dubious diplomatic act carried out by an ambassador, Algeria, which is a sovereign and indivisible republic, has the right to receive clarification of the final position of the Kingdom of Morocco regarding this extremely dangerous incident.