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After bitter fighting in the 1970s and 80s, the Polisario Front and Morocco agreed various ceasefires in the 1990s but failed to resolve the underlying dispute.

Algeria backs the pro-independence Polisario Front in Western Sahara and is seen as its main ally.

Relations have long been strained between the two countries but reached a new low last year, when France backed Morocco's claim to Western Sahara, where Algeria backs the Polisario group fighting for the territory's independence.

Algeria is the historic backer of the independence movement Polisario.

He also said Polisario had been “invented” by Algeria to “destabilise Morocco”.