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Rabat- The victims of arbitrary expulsion from Algeria have asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to take action against Algeria over crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Algerian regime in 1975.
A statement issued by the Association for the Defense of Moroccan Victims of Expulsion from Algeria (ADEMA), said that it has filed a lawsuit against the Algerian authorities in the International Court of Justice The complaint comes after Algeria refused to implement the United Nations’ recommendations that call for the recognition of Moroccans’ rights and the recovery of their property in Algeria.
In a press conference held on Thursday in Rabat, ADEMA’s president, Miloud Chaouch stated that “the arbitrary expulsion of about 350,000 Moroccans from Algeria and the theft of their property, is one of the most odious crimes ever perpetrated against humanity committed by this regime.”
The Moroccan government has been calling upon the Algerian government to discuss the situation of the displaced Moroccans who were expelled from Algeria in 1975.
Last month, Mbarka Bouaida, Morocco's Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, ratified a call to the Algerian authorities to convene a meeting of the Moroccan-Algerian joint committee to address the rights of the Moroccan victims of expulsion from the country.
However, Algiers has not shown willingness to discuss the matter, continues to ignore its responsibility for injustice, and refuses to give the victims a satisfactory explanation for its actions.
ADEMA’s president, Miloud Chaouch goes so far as to accuse the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of avoiding the subject. He called upon the Ministry to do more than just calling for the Algerian authorities to discuss this matter.
In December 1975, the government of the late Houari Boumediene and his assistant at the time, current president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, expelled over 45,000 Moroccans from Algeria.
Miloud Chaouch said that despite Moroccans’devotion and sacrifices during Algeria’s strides toward independence, “they were bused to the Moroccan borders and left without food or shelter.”
“Once independence was achieved, the Algerian regime dropped the mask and attacked the real fighters and sons of martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for a free, democratic and independent Algeria,” Miloud Chaouch concluded.
Edited by Elisabeth Myers