ALGIERS: Algeria has suspended foreign trade in products and services with Spain amid an escalating dispute over the status of Western Sahara. Thursday’s announcement came a day after the North African nation suspended a 20-year-old friendship treaty with Spain that committed the two sides to cooperation in controlling migration flows. Algeria has also banned imports from Spain. The European Union urged Algeria to reverse its decision, pressing for dialogue to resolve the dispute.
Spain was the former colonial power in Western Sahara until the region was annexed by Morocco in 1975. Since then, Algeria and neighbouring Morocco have had tense ties over the fate of Western Sahara, at one point fighting a desert war. Algeria has long backed the Polisario movement that is seeking independence for the region, claimed by Algeria’s neighbour and rival Morocco.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Thursday that Spain’s response to Algeria’s move to cut off bilateral trade will be “serene, constructive, but also firm in its defence of Spanish interests”.
Algeria’s now openly hostile turn against a member of the European Union comes while Spain and the rest of the 27-nation bloc are hustling to find alternatives to Russian energy imports to protest Russia’s war in Ukraine. –Agencies
