Morocco censures Algerian foreign minister's remarks, recalls envoy
Moroccan authorities have decided to recall the country's ambassador from neighboring Algeria after the Algerian foreign minister accused the Moroccan government institutions of having a hand in the financing and trafficking of hashish trade.
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador from Algiers a day after it summoned Algerian charge d'affaires in Rabat to protest Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel’s accusations that banks and an air carrier in Morocco were involved in hashish trafficking.
Messahel said on Friday that banks in Morocco were clearly laundering money obtained from hashish trade. He also said that Morocco’s national airline helped the transport of hashish to other countries.
“Everybody knows that the Moroccan banks launder hashish money. The leaders of many African countries have told me this,” Messahel said while addressing business leaders in Algiers on Friday. He also claimed that Royal Air Maroc “carries something other than passengers.”
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry lambasted Messahel for the remarks and called them unprecedented even in the history of tense relations between the two North African rivals.
A statement by the ministry said the comments showed a “level of irresponsibility unprecedented in the history of bilateral relations.” It added that the comments “testify to a deep and inexplicable ignorance of the basic workings of the banking system and civil aviation.”
Morocco has outlawed the use and sale of hashish. However, the drug is still planted in vast territories north of the country. Official figures from 2013 suggest some 90,000 Moroccan households rely on hashish trade to earn a living. Europe remains a main destination for hashish planted in northern Morocco. Authorities have also tried to tolerate consumption of hashish as an indispensable component of the local culture.
Morocco and Algeria are known for their unfriendly relations. The two neighbors are still at odds over Morocco’s 1975 annexation of Western Sahara, and a movement called Polisario Front enjoys Algeria’s help to seek independence of the region from Rabat. Borders between Morocco and Algeria have also been closed since 1994.
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