Morocco to demolish childhood home of Algeria's president Bouteflika

Local authorities in Morocco have issued demolition orders for a dilapidated house but the unexpected owner of the long-abandoned residence in the border town of Oujda has held them up.

The house in Oujda's old city, 20 kilometres from the Algerian border, happens to be the childhood home of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, the mayor of Oujda said on Saturday that authorities issued the demolition orders in 2017 because the house is at risk of collapse and poses a safety risk to neighbours.

Omar Hajira explained that "political sensitivities" and have kept him from going ahead with the plans to bulldoze the Algerian leader's former residence.

He said that he met with Algeria's consul general last month to discuss the issue and was promised that channels of communication would be opened with the family of the Algerian leader.

The 81-year-old leader was born in Oujda in 1937 to Algerian parents, he moved to Algeria as a teenager to join the war of independence against the French.

A Facebook group in Oujda have posted a video online, showing the ruins of the house.

In the footage, a local complains that the home has turned into a rubbish dump and that it is being used by squatters as a spot to drink alcohol.