Algerian FM Refutes Accusations by Morocco of Supporting Polisario Front

CAIRO (Sputnik) - Algeria refuted the claims of neighboring Morocco that it has helped to organize the meetings between the Tehran-allied Hezbollah movement's and the Western Sahara independence movement Polisario Front, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.

“Algeria strongly condemns and deplores the statements made by the Moroccan foreign minister in an interview, released yesterday in a Paris magazine," the Foreign Ministry’s said in a statement late on Sunday.

Algiers stressed that Rabat still has not provided any sufficient evidence to support its claims and continues to “make up stories,” according to the statement.

Morocco claimed control of most of Western Sahara after the Spanish colonial administration of the territory ended in 1976. Fighting later broke out between Morocco and Polisario, ending in a ceasefire in September 1991.

The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara was deployed the same year in an attempt to achieve lasting and mutually acceptable solution that would provide for self-determination of Western Saharan people. Polisario still cannot agree with Morocco on the status of Western Sahara, demanding a referendum on self-determination.