The case will not help the already strained relations between Morocco and Algeria. The Algerian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday (September 3rd) that “warning shots” were fired on Tuesday by Algerian coastguards and then “shots fired” in the face of “a refusal to comply” by Moroccans on Jet-Skis, after the announcement of the death of two vacationers.
According to Moroccan media and lawyers who said they wanted to file a complaint in France, Bilal Qissi, a Franco-Moroccan holidaymaker and his cousin Abdelali Mechouar, holder of a regular residence permit in France, were killed by the Algerian coast guard. after getting lost. They had left the seaside resort of Saidia (north-west), on the border with Algeria, aboard Jet-Ski, according to the testimony of the older brother of Mr. Qissi, Mohamed who was able to return to the beach.
“During a security and control patrol in our territorial waters, a coastguard unit intercepted, on Tuesday at 7:47 p.m. [8:47 p.m., Paris time], three Jet-Skis having clandestinely crossed our territorial waters,” the Algerian ministry said in a statement. “After issuing an audible warning and summoning them to stop several times, the defendants refused to comply and fled by performing dangerous maneuvers”, according to the same source.
After several “warning shots”, “shots were fired forcing one of the Jet-Skis to come to a stop, while the other two fled”, adds the ministry, which explained these shots by “an activity increased number of drug gangs and organized crime” in this border area, and due to “the stubbornness of the Jet-Ski passengers”.
The ministry asks in its press release to “not pay attention to the false information circulating aimed at harming the honorable image of the Algerian Army”.
A complaint soon to be filed for assassination
The body of Bilal Qissi, a 29-year-old trader and father of two, was found on the beach on the Moroccan side. According to the ministry, “an unidentified male corpse, showing a bullet impact by firearm” was found on Wednesday and transferred to Tlemcen for autopsy. The Abdelali Mechouar (or Mchiouer) family, a 40-year-old trader residing in France, father of a five-year-old child, are demanding that his body be returned to them as soon as possible. Another member of the group, Smaïl Snabé, also Franco-Moroccan, was injured, according to Mohamed Qissi quoted by the media, and is detained in Algeria.
France has confirmed the death of a Frenchman of Moroccan origin and “the incarceration of another compatriot in Algeria in an incident involving several of our nationals”.
The public prosecutor’s office in Oujda, a city on which Saidia depends, has opened an investigation to determine the circumstances “of a violent incident at sea”, a judicial source told the Moroccan agency MAP on Friday. A complaint will also be filed “Monday or Tuesday” for “aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, hijacking of a ship and failure to assist a person in danger”, Me Hakim Chergui told Agence France-Presse on Sunday. , one of the lawyers for the victims’ family.
Vivid friction
Rabat has not yet spoken officially. But the National Human Rights Council (an official Moroccan constitutional body, independent of the government) “condemned the use of live ammunition by the Algerian coast guard against defenseless citizens, instead of bringing aid to people lost at sea, which is a serious violation of international standards,” according to a statement on Sunday.
“A third young person is still in intensive care in Oujda,” said the CNDH without giving his identity or nationality. The CNDH also indicated that Mr. Snabé “was sentenced to 18 months” in prison in Algeria, without giving the reasons.
This affair risks exacerbating the sharp frictions between Rabat and Algiers, fueled by their antagonism over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, considered a “non-self-governing territory” by the United Nations (UN) in the absence of a final settlement. The separatists of the Polisario demand a self-determination referendum planned by the UN in 1991 but never organized. Morocco, which controls nearly 80% of the territory, is proposing an autonomy plan under its sovereignty. Their borders have been closed since 1994 and Algeria severed diplomatic ties with Morocco in August 2021.
