Algeria: Madrid's statements about the Sahara region are unacceptable and the crisis is complicated

The Assistant Foreign Minister in charge of the Sahara and Maghreb region, Ammar Ballani, announced his country's rejection of statements made by the Spanish Foreign Minister in response to the statements of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune about the crisis between his country and Madrid.

Algeria has expressed its rejection of statements made by the Spanish Foreign Minister in response to the statements of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on the crisis between his country and Madrid.

On Monday, the Assistant Foreign Minister in charge of the Sahara and Maghreb region, Amar Blani, confirmed to APS that the statements made by Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Alparis regarding the statements of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune are "unfortunate and unacceptable."

"Such statements will certainly not contribute to a speedy return of bilateral relations to normal, and the Spanish minister will have to bear the consequences," Blaney said, pointing to Algeria's rejection of the clarifications provided by the Spanish Foreign Ministry at a later time to Alparis' statements.

And he added, "The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs tried to correct the situation in the media, but we have an audio recording confirming that the minister has already made offensive statements that contradict behavior and protocol decency."

Blaney was responding to a comment by the Spanish Foreign Minister when he was asked about recent statements made by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune regarding the crisis with Madrid, in which he said that "he is not responding to the president's statements because that is just a sterile discussion."

President Tebboune had confirmed in a television interview last Saturday that "what Spain did regarding the Sahara issue is morally and historically unacceptable and it must apply international law" as a condition for normalizing relations between Algeria and Madrid.

The crisis between Algeria and Spain erupted last month after the latter announced a change in its position on the dispute over the Sahara region and its alignment with the Moroccan position, which prompted Algeria to recall its ambassador from Madrid.

The first experience in Africa Morocco is looking for financing for a high-speed rail project

Morocco is looking for funding for a new high-speed train project, linking Casablanca, the country's largest city, and Agadir.

Morocco announced, on Monday, that it is looking for financing for a new high-speed train project, linking Casablanca, the country's largest city (west) and Agadir (central).

This came in response to the Moroccan Minister of Transport, Mohamed Abdel Jalil, to the questions of parliamentarians during a plenary session of the House of Representatives (the first chamber of parliament).

Abdul Jalil said: "Initial estimates indicate that the cost of the project amounts to about 75 billion dirhams (7.56 billion dollars)."

"The project is part of a huge plan," the Moroccan minister explained, confirming the completion of preliminary studies related to the project's infrastructure and engineering

He continued, "The completion of the project requires finding innovative solutions to finance it, and we are working towards that."

In November 2018, Morocco launched the first high-speed rail project, the first experiment of its kind on the African continent.

Morocco called this train linking Tangiers (the far north of the country) and Casablanca, "Al-Buraq".

The Moroccan Railways Office (governmental) says that it has "a medium- and long-term plan to cover the national territory with railways, which includes more than 1,300 kilometers of high-speed lines and 3800 of regular lines."

The Kingdom intends to connect 43 governorates by train, up from 23 currently.