Morocco and Algeria may re-open border

Western Sahara is a perennial thorn in bilateral ties

Morocco and Algeria have pledged to seek the re-opening of their common border which has been closed since 1994.

We agreed to put this question [of the Western Sahara] in parenthesis because it is being dealt with at the United Nations

Algerian Interior Minister

The remarks came during a rare visit by the Algerian Interior Minister, Noureddine Zerhouni, to Morocco for talks with his counterpart Ahmed Midaoui.

The two men, while announcing no concrete progress, said they would meet again early next year for further talks about normalising relations.

Algeria's support for the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the Western Sahara, a territory claimed by Morocco, has been a longstanding thorn in bilateral relations.

Stuck with geography

Mr Zerhouni said: "We agreed to put this question [on the Western Sahara] in parenthesis because it is being dealt with at the United Nations", although Mr Midaoui appeared to disagree about this.

Western Sahara - A Brief History

1884 Territory colonised by Spain

1956 Morocco claims sovereignty

1973 Polisario Front set up to fight for independence

1990 UN undertakes to organise referendum

However the Moroccan minister said the two countries' "fate is to understand each other" because "you can't change geography", while his Algerian counterpart expressed optimism about prospects "because we have emerged stronger from our failures".

The Moroccan-Algerian border has been closed since 1994, when Franco-North African Islamists attacked a Marrakesh hotel, killing two Spanish tourists in a severe blow to Morocco's vital tourism industry.

The discovery of oil reserves in eastern Morocco near the Algerian border last August gives Morocco an extra incentive to improve relations with its neighbour.

Correspondents say that border tensions may well discourage international investors from helping Morocco to exploit this valuable new resource.

The oil field lies about 160km from the disputed frontier, and not far from a battlefield where the two countries once went to war.