Qatar is 'ready' to mediate Morocco-Algeria reconciliation: foreign ministry

Qatar voiced its readiness to mediate between Morocco and Algeria and end the two-year-diplomatic fraction between the long-standing North African frenemies.

"Bridging the gap between the brothers is a major concern of the state of Qatar," Majid Al-Ansari, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday.

"Qatar is willing to engage in any official process aimed at bringing the positions between Algeria and Morocco closer," he added.

The Qatari diplomat confirmed that Doha has sought to mediate the conflict in its official communication with Algiers. Though, he did not reveal the Algerian response to Doha's suggestion.

In 2021, Algeria considered Morocco and Israel's new friendship a 'hostile' move. It cut diplomatic ties and closed borders with Rabat. It later banned all Moroccan aircraft from crossing its airspace.

Over the past two years, Moroccan King Mohammed VI initiated, on several occasions, Rabat's willingness to reconcile with Algiers and sit for mediation talks. Though, Algeria never responded to the royal invitations.

The Western Sahara dispute has been at the heart of worsening ties between the two countries.

Morocco has had control of the territory, but little international recognition, since 1975, after Spanish colonial rule ended.

Once Morocco seized the bulk, Algeria began to provide military support to the Polisario Front. It allowed its leaders, as well as many Saharawi refugees, to establish themselves on Algerian territory.

Since then, Western Sahara has been the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Rabat and Algeria-backed Polisario Front, causing a continuous Moroccan-Algerian diplomatic standoff, with border closures and envoys recalled whenever tensions mount.

The rivalry between the two neighbours intensified when Morocco and Israel normalised ties in exchange for the US recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara and a promised American embassy in the disputed territory.

Algeria has maintained friendly ties with countries that recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, including Qatar.

Last August, Abderrazak Makri, head of the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), Algeria's main Islamist party, said Rabat's Israel normalisation was the move that squandered all chances of reconciliation 

"It is the Moroccan regime that causes problems. No country can mediate between us," said Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro in 2022.