Morocco Algeria Border To Open Shortly
 

Just found this in the news:

After 15 years of closed Moroccan-Algerian border, and after many calls to open the border by Rabat and several Arab and Western capitals, sources in Algiers say that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has taken the decision to reopen the closed border with Morocco, after the mediation by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah that took place while he was recovering from surgery in Morocco. Another source familiar with the issue of reopening the Moroccan-Algerian border said it was also influenced by internal calculations in Algeria. Most Algerian tourists went to Tunisia to spend their holidays, and as long as Tunisia is now in a transitional phase after the overthrow of the dictator Benali, the only other alternative tourist destination is Morocco due to its geographical proximity, in addition to the tough measures imposed by France and the other "Schengen"countries on the granting of visas to Algerians.

A tourism executive in Morocco said that Morocco could host an additional 1.5 to 2 million tourists from Algeria annually, and this could be a shot in the arm for tourism, and also revive a number of projects in the east of the country, which were damaged by the earlier decision to close the border.

On the other hand, observers do not exclude the importance of the visit by U.S. envoy to North Africa and the Middle East William Burns to the region last week that addressed the relationship between Morocco and Algeria, and the need for normalization between the two neighbors to confront the major challenges faced by both systems of governance from the outbreak of demonstrations calling for reform, led by young people in this region.

Morocco Algeria Border To Open Shortly

Great news from the traveller's POV! Let's hope it works out.

Good news :thumbup1:

NICEEE! we will wait and see if it really happens and when. bad that the security and travel regulations are not that good right now but this step will give new travel oppurtinities!:clap:

This is great news, Now all we need is Libiya, Egypt and Tunisia to stableise and I can resserrect my plans to do a complete lap of the Med.

a short cut to timbucto then????????
hope so..

Great NEWS!
 

+1

Although as much as I try I simply can't help getting my hopes up to do a complete circuit of the Med Algeria and Morocco included!!!

I'm planning a trip but didn't count on Algeria, no it looks like I should. :D

I too am hopeful but the only other news I've read on this is a rehashing of the moroccoboard story.

The border reopening been mooted several times in the past but the only guy who managed to get the barriers lifted was 'Gorgeous George' Galloway who helped organise the Viva Palestina aid convoy, see Youtube video of the crossing.

Here in Morocco people say this is just propaganda.
Some other day...

Good news, but I'll believe it when I'll see it... :rolleyes2:

Well it may actually be true!!!!!!!!!
Read this from Bouteflika urges co-operation with Morocco (Magharebia.com) and mr Bouteflika is saying some un-believable things. Like:
Can you believe it?

18 Avril 2011: « Tout sur l’Algérie » avance que l’ouverture des frontières ne saurait tarder. Selon ce quotidien électronique, les autorités algériennes seraient en train de rénover, « depuis quelques semaines », les postes de contrôles aux frontières. Jusqu’a présent, aucune décision officielle n’a été prise par les deux gouvernements.

18 April 2011: "Tout sur l’Algérie" argues that open borders will not be long. According to the daily electronic, the Algerian authorities are renovating, "in recent weeks," the checkpoints at the borders. So far, no official decision has been taken by both governments.

I had several looks at the phrase "seraient en train de rénover" and I'm not sure whether it means "in process of" or "trying to", so input from a better French speaker is welcome!

http://www.morocco-knowledgebase.net/photos/r23126.jpg
Figuig a few months back—they need to pull up the weeds, give the place a splash of paint, install computers, train officials....

Tim

Well it says they've started fixing up the border posts!

Amazing. This will open up a whole new way of visiting the Sahara.
West of Algeria will see more tourists in a year than they've seen over the last 17.

I fancy having a 4wd stationed at Marrakech and then go down with Norwegian or Ryanair whenever I get the urge, and just start driving east as far as they'll let me go.
With or without a guide...I wonder if it will be easier getting a visa...

But then I think that this may have nothing to do with tourism and what they have in mind is only for commercial traffic and for locals?

Med Route
 

Ooooh!
I've been thinking of a late summer route UK-Italy-Tunisia-Algeria-Morocco-Spain-UK..? Throw in some dicking about in the sands and I think that could be a cracking trip! ?c?

But then I think that this may have nothing to do with tourism and what they have in mind is only for commercial traffic and for locals?

I think this will be the case as that is where the money is, not the hassle of a few independent foreign tourists needing visas and escorts (which are especially bad in the west).
And I am told Alg tourist ministry has une nouvelle présentation afin d'obtenir un visa, mais tous les [agencies?] rejeter cette méthode. Not sure what that means.

"a new presentation in order to obtain a visa but all agencies reject this method"



Good on Google translate..!

It means that agencies don't agree with the new method to obatin a visa for foreigner... but what are their reasons?
I think you have to ask to those you know very well.

RR.

"seraient en train de se renover" means that they are , may be, in a renovating process.... but it's not sure and knowing Algerian bureaucracy....
RR.

Nice words from Boutef. The Moroccan paper I read a couple of days ago also had those words, followed by a denounciation of Algerian two-facedness. Still always good to hope. I've been in both Figuig and Beni Ounif, as well as Oujda and Tlemcen. It would certainly be nice if the border was open.

The visa dance would still put people off Algeria, but it could be much easier for those who were going anyway. Anyway, it's all hypothetical until the gates point skyward.

*Departing from Fes airport today, there was a 'demonstration' by workers inside the terminal. Chanting, signs, a couple of Moroccan flags, and of course the requisite portrait of the king. All this being minded by a few guys in expensive suits and being recorded. Such a transparently staged display cannot have fooled anybody. Having it coincide with one of the few flights of the day at one of the few international airports seems to suggest that it was aimed at the mostly Spanish passengers on the way back to Madrid. It also suggests something amiss in some part of the regime: fear? uncertainty? definitely not quiet confidence, that's for sure.

Has anybody else ever witnessed one of these, recently or in the past?

Moroccans I know and those I have talked to love their king, and the changes he is seen as a symbol of (modernization). They don't like corruption and fear a military coup.
They also fear Algeria (=chaos).

Could the borders reopen on 17 May?


Morocco and Algeria on Monday signed a landmark agreement on agricultural cooperation. The two countries have been engaged for three months in a process of normalization of diplomatic relations broken there over 30 years. Public opinion welcomed this approach
Soon the reopening of the borders between Morocco and Algeria? In Rabat to Algiers as this event is raised seriously. Both capitals multiplied the signs of a warming of relations frozen for nearly three decades of simmering conflict, about the Western Sahara. Monday in Rabat, the Moroccan Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Marine Akhannouch Aziz, and his Algerian counterpart in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, Rachid Benaissa, who came to participate in the International Exhibition of Agriculture (ACIS) signed an agreement on cooperation in food security between their two countries. Following this commitment, Morocco and Algeria will work to enhance each other's food security. Their experts will work together to popularize scientific research, develop animal and plant production, and fight against desertification.

Both countries also commit themselves to intensify their trade. The execution of the agreement will last five years. This is the first time a convention of this magnitude binds the two countries since the closure of their common border in 1994. For many observers, the sign is obvious: Morocco and Algeria have embarked on a process of normalizing relations. Their officials also suggest that evolution glib tongue. "We are neighbors and brothers and we work (...) for strengthening relations" bilateral, said Monday, Rachid Benaissa. "The continued closure of borders between two neighboring countries like Algeria and Morocco is not reasonable, the reopening of borders is necessary," said the same day, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci, during an interview .

Contacts for three months

According to media in both countries, Algeria and Morocco have been engaged in reconciliation efforts for over three months. "There is no problem between Algeria and Morocco (...) The problem of Western Sahara is a UN problem. Morocco is a neighbor and brother. We must cooperate and we must cooperate, "launched the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, inaugurating, Saturday, April 16, the event dubbed" Tlemcen, the capital of Islamic culture. " In late February, the Moroccan Minister of Energy and Water, Amina Benkhadra visited Algiers. A visit seen as a "relaunch of cooperation between Algiers and Rabat, according to the analysis of the Algerian daily El Watan . The daily online Everything about Algeria (TSA) , the Algerian authorities are actively preparing for the reopening of borders. In recent weeks, TSA writing they undertook renovation of checkpoints on some points on the border with Morocco. "We must open the borders, but first we must create the necessary conditions. When the decision is made, it will be applied in an honest and balanced in the interests of both parties. This can be achieved by continuing consultations between both parties. (...) We agreed to continue the exchange of visits in sensitive sectors. Visits that will continue until the end of the year, "said Mourad Medelci.

On Facebook, many groups of citizens from Algeria and Morocco have been created, and lobby for the resumption of relations between their two countries. Some of these groups argue even an official date for the opening of borders: May 17 "Families separated for 17 years on both sides of the border between Morocco and Algeria will soon have the opportunity to experience moments of reunion. The date of the reopening of the border is scheduled for 17 May. The party has already organized in the two brotherly countries. A date that the two neighboring countries will now celebrate together. The closure has cost every year and since 1994, two percentage points of growth in the Maghreb. Moroccans and Algerians are invited to view the two fraternal countries' flags on their facebook profile until 17.05.2011, the day of the reopening, "we read on News Morocco , which includes comments attributed to these militants.

Morocco and Algeria had severed formal relations in 1975, following the confrontation between their two armies Amgala, Western Sahara.

Increased police presence along the Moroccan/Algerian border

Ennahar Online - Thousands of Moroccans abandon their citizenship and flee to Algeria

"opening" a border does not necessarily mean opening the border for all. One can hope. If the problem in Libya is sorted i know which way i'm going to (try) go to Egypt. At the moment my whole trip is consistently jeopardised by trouble, corruption and stupid selective random borders regulations. Failing that its back on the ferry from Italy. Now if they'd only open the road from Egypt to Sudan or allow escorted journeys like they used to have in Egypt for tourists.

What is happening is remarkable, given the intense propaganda war that has been going on forever between the two.
Even if the borders will only be open for family reunions, someone should be there and see if they can sneak through. :)

Whatever happens, this is the only positive news for Sahara tourism for a very long time, no?
Cooperation between Morocco and Algeria will mean a resolution of the Western Sahara conflict which is at the heart of their problems. The loosers than will be Polisario (but not necessarily the Saharians). Everyone will gain from increased trade and travel.
And for us the gain would be increased security in Sahara.

The real loosers would be Aqim and other outlaws profiting from the current lawlessness.

So what is this all about? Citizens of M'hamid leaving Morocco by the thousands - for Algeria. Why would anyone rather be Algerian than Moroccan today?
Ennahar Online - Thousands of Moroccans abandon their citizenship and flee to Algeria

Hi,
according to LA VOIX DE L’ORANIE from 15-05-2011 the border is to open 2 June.

Moroccans saying they're waiting for the Algerians to move on the issue:

http://www.echoroukonline.com/eng/index.php?news=13432

Algeria answered today: no border opening by now :thumbdown:

The opening of the border between Algeria and Morocco is not on the agenda
Sunday, May 29, 2011 / 19:28


http://www.afrik.com/local/cache-vig...ton3-d13e0.gif Contrary to what the media thought for some months following the process of normalization of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Algeria, the reopening of the border between the two countries "is not on the agenda," said Ahmed Ouyahia on Sunday, Prime Minister of Algeria, but it "will happen one day or another," you it said, adding that it was not related to the Sahara issue Occeidentale reports La Tribune Online. Moreover, Ahmed Ouyahia has confirmed the government's desire to redeem Algeria's telecom operator Djezzy (Orascom Telecom Algeria)

http://www.afrik.com/breve31415.html

http://translate.google.es/translate...5.html&act=url

Geoff, real interested to hear if you pull this off. I'm wanting to do same in reverse direction towards end of the year.

Seems like further news has died about the Oujda border?

In any case - IF - the border opens, will the Algerian visa be issued in Morocco?

Getting the Algerian visa in Tunisia (as far as i heard) was pretty difficult. I applied for the Algerian visa in The Hague, got one after 2 weeks but unfortunately wasn't able to go.

Might want to take a look at this border coming winter.

Cheers!
Arno

I have no special inside info but I would not make plans on this border being open now, even if it all seemed so certain at the time.

I even wonder if it was not some sort of media distraction or appeasing gesture to do with the many revolts across the Maghreb at the time.

Let's hope it actually happens one day - it is Alg that is digging in.

btw, I hear the Almeria-Oran ferry has been suspended this winter but Acconia's Almeria-Ghazaouet (very close to Oran) is still running at least once a week in winter.

Ch

Not quite, this came today Algérie-Maroc : Du nouveau dans les relations «dans un avenir très proche» - 7 jours - El Watan
"Rabat wants a "full normalization" of relations with Algiers, said yesterday the AFP Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taeib Fassi Fihri, who considers it "abnormal not to have a normalized relationship" with the neighboring country."

I think the algies are stalling. Like a comment says, this is politics: "Je t'aime moi non plus".
But change can come quickly in the arab world, as we have seen this year...
An opening of the border and the Western Sahara situation resolved would be tantamount to a minor revolution.

Can I assume from the lack of recent thread additions that the border is still a no-go?

Would there be a problem with someone going through Morocco (and then Western Sahara), into Mauritania (and possibly Mali) and then going into Algeria? I'm not sure whether the Algerians would object to you having been in Morocco AT ALL, or whether it was just a no-no to go straight from one to the other?

It could be quite a nice diversion East . . . .

Hi,
I don't have any info on the Moroc - Alg border, but confidently assume nothings significantly changed recently.......hope i'm wrong of course.

Def no problem with a Moroc stamp in your passport when going to Alg, but you'll have to go further south than Mauri or Mali, their borders have been either closed or the route far too risky for quite a while.

Read more here and/or check out Chris' website for all the info before making any plans
Sahara Overland ~ Trans Sahara Routes

Sam

Looky here!
Algeria agrees to briefly re-open borders with Morocco: report

Hmmm, little by little!
Got my fingers crossed it's the first step, but I guess it's still likely to be a pretty long road?

Cheers Priffe

Yes Niva
little by little....but it is about to happen
Algerie-diplomatie-maroc-visite-historique-du-ministre-marocain-des-affaires-etrangeres

Border to open in May!
 

that should get yer attention :)
Algeria may open border with Morocco (Magharebia.com)
it may actually be in the works
"The land border between Algeria and Morocco could be opened as early as May. The news follows statements by Algerian ministers indicating warming ties between the neighbours following an official visit by Morocco's chief diplomat."

This would be excellent! And just on time for my summer plans...

open for foreign tourists?
 

I was about to say, let's hope it opens for all, and not just Maghrebians/Africans, as with many borders in the Sahara.

Ch

great news for the summer...
Someone remember wen was closed?

1996
 

As it says in the report 'Closed in 1996'. I'm very much looking forward to it opening as I've been wanting to do the North Africa circle route for a LOOONG time!

ty geoffshing. I know a guy how was cross the borDer in 2002!! He tell me the border officers some times the make exceptions..

Border officers? What border officers???

More and more articles popping up with talk about the possible opening of the borders . . . even about reviving the ideas of a maghreb union
«La réouverture de la frontière aura un impact positif pour les deux pays» - Economie - El Watan
"That said, the opening of the border could not bear fruit unless it is accompanied by concrete measures to remove all obstacles (customs, bureaucracy ...) to the free movement of goods flows and investment.
If the opening of the border is necessary for the free movement of persons, goods and capital, it remains insufficient if it is not accompanied by real structural reforms to make the two neighboring economies very attractive to accommodate these flows."

There are shady groups who have no interest in an open border
http://www.elwatan.com/economie/la-f...157854_111.php

Report from a bordertown
Algérie-Maroc : Quand le business ouvre la frontière ! - Economie - El Watan

Even if this won't happen overnight, it is some of the most positive news to come out of the region for decades (from a touristy POV), no?

Interesting article about Oujda border
 

Nice article - cheers

KK

salam
we seriously wish that the border will open some day
but during the probleme of occidontal sahara existe I do not think that will be happen
figuig and the others regions near suffer from this economicaly and socially