The Association of Algerian Banks said in a statement that Algeria has banned all imports from Spain starting this Thursday.

The ban comes hours after Algeria suspended a 20-year friendship treaty with Spain, changing its stance on the Western Sahara case to support Morocco’s.

As a result, Spanish diplomatic sources said that “the Spanish government regrets the announcement of Algeria as president”, adding that Spain “views Algeria as a neighboring and friendly country and reiterates its full readiness to continue to maintain and develop a special relationship of cooperation between the two countries”.

Considering that the Spanish authorities had taken their position in “violation of their legal, moral and political obligations”, Algeria decided “to proceed with the immediate suspension of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation concluded on October 8, 2002 with Spain, which determined the development of relations between the two countries,” said the Algerian chairman.

The Spanish-Algerian agreement provides for the strengthening of political dialogue between the two countries at all levels and the development of cooperation in the economic, financial, educational and defense fields.

On March 18, Spain radically changed its position on the painful issue of Western Sahara, publicly supporting the Moroccan autonomy project and angering Algeria, the main supporter of the Polisario Front.

The issue of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that the United Nations considers an “independent region”, has sparked a long-standing dispute between Morocco, which controls 80% of the territory, and separatists from the Polisario Front.

Following the change in Madrid’s position, Algeria withdrew its ambassador to Spain, and the national hydrocarbon company Sonatrach announced an increase in prices for gas supplied by Algeria to Spain.

In April, the Algerian president called Spain’s change of position on Western Sahara “morally and historically unacceptable.”

The Spanish transformation ended a serious diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat that had lasted for almost a year: more than 10,000 immigrants arrived in mid-May 2021 within 48 hours in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after Moroccan authorities eased control operations.

In this regard, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that his country “will not allow” the use of “illegal immigration” as a means of pressure, indirectly warning Rabat.