Algerian leader says Morocco ties have reached 'point of no return'

RABAT - Algeria's relations with Morocco have reached the point of no return, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

Algeria broke off relations with Morocco in 2021 amid growing tensions over issues that included the dispute over Western Sahara.

Tebboune described that the Spanish government's position as individual from Pedro Sanchez’s government and biased.

The Algerian leader said that the Spanish government has forgotten that it is the former colonial power of Western Sahara and its responsibility still exists.

In March 2022, Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez put an end to a diplomatic crisis that had erupted in 2021 regarding Western Sahara.

Spain told Morocco that it regards its autonomy plan for Western Sahara as "serious, credible and realistic," angering Algeria.

Sanchez declared “a new phase of bilateral relations” with Morocco, an important partner with the European Union in fighting extremism and aiding the bloc's irregular migration policies.

On November 2021, Algeria, which has cut off diplomatic ties with Morocco, stopped supplying natural gas to its neighbouring country through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline.