The Algerian government on Wednesday announced it has decided to end its 20-year-old treaty of friendship, good neighborliness, and cooperation with Spain, reported Reuters.
The announcement was made at the end of a meeting of the Algerian High-Security Council chaired by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
“Algeria has decided to immediately suspend the treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation” signed with Madrid in 2002, the president’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement said that Algeria considered Spain’s unjustifiable change of position to be contrary to international law, directly contributing to a degrading situation in the vast, mineral-rich region.
The Algerian president’s office said the current Spanish government has given its full support to the illegal and illegitimate form of internal autonomy advocated by the occupying power and has worked to promote a colonial fait accompli using spurious arguments.
In a statement, Spain’s government regretted the Algerian government’s decision and reaffirmed its commitment to the friendship treaty.
The Spanish foreign ministry statement said that its government considers Algeria as a friendly neighbor country and restates its readiness to continue and keep developing the cooperation relationship between our two countries for the benefit of the people of both the 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 Algerian government’s decision to end the treaty comes as a blow to already fragile relations between Algiers and Madrid, which depends on Algeria for its natural gas supply.
Tensions increased between the countries after Spain apparently gave its backing to Morocco’s position over the disputed Western Sahara territory.
Morocco controls 80 percent of Western Sahara, while the rest is held by the Algerian-backed Polisario movement, which fought a 15-year war with Morocco after Spanish forces withdrew in 1975 and demands a referendum on independence.
