According to Moroccan media reports, two tourists driving jet skis were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard as they apparently crossed the maritime border between the two Mediterranean countries. Frenchmen Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Merchouer, who held French and Moroccan passports, were attacked after making a wrong turn in front of the tourist resort of Saidia in northern Morocco, popular with tourists, on the border with Algeria.
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A third French-Moroccan tourist named Smaïl Snabé was arrested by the Algerian coast guard, news website Le360 reported on Thursday, citing a witness. He was taken before the public prosecutor on Wednesday, Le360 reported, citing “consistent sources”.
According to the news site, the vacation group consisted of four men. So everyone was on jet skis. “We were lost,” Moroccan website Al Omk said, citing Bilal Kissi’s brother, Mohamed Kissi. Consequently, he and his companions ran out of fuel. “We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian boat came toward us” and the people on board “shot at us,” he said.
Fortunately he wasn’t hit. His brother and his friend, however, were killed after being hit by five bullets. He himself ended up being picked up by the Moroccan navy and taken back to the port of Saidia.
When asked about the alleged shooting of jet ski riders on Thursday, Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Baitas declined to comment. This is “a matter for the judiciary,” he said. Algeria initially did not comment on the incident.
Relations between Algeria and Morocco have been tense for decades. Among other things, this concerns the status of Western Sahara. While Morocco considers oil-rich Western Sahara to be part of its national territory, the Polisario Front, an independence movement active in Western Sahara, campaigns for independence with the support of Algeria.
The border between the two North African states has been closed since 1994. Algiers cut ties with Rabat in 2021 after accusing the neighboring country of “hostile acts” – an accusation Morocco says is “totally unjustified”.