Morocco to receive Algerian minister of justice at upcoming Arab Summit, after a year of dispute

Morocco confirmed Wednesday the visit of Algeria's justice minister Abderrachid Tabi to Rabat to hand Moroccan officials an invitation to attend the Arab summit next November.

In a press release, Morocco's ministry of foreign affairs said that the Algerian authorities have decided to dispatch several emissaries to the Arab capitals, "bearers of invitations to all the heads of state of the member countries of the Arab League".

"It is in this context that the Algerian Minister of Justice will be received in Morocco," said the ministry.

This will be the first official visit between the North African frenemies, after a year of diplomatic stalemate and a long-standing political tit-for-tat.

In 2021, Algeria halted ties with Rabat over the kingdom's "hostile acts", mainly the Moroccan-Israeli normalisation deal.

Meanwhile, Morocco held a grudge against its Algerian neighbour over its unconditional support to the separatist movement of Polisario that fights against Rabat in the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Nevertheless, Rabat has repeatedly voiced its will to mend ties with Algeria. 

The expected visit increased hopes for a future in which Rabat and Algiers end their conflicts and open their borders.

However, Said Saddiki, a Moroccan professor of international relations at  Univesity Mohammed Ben Abdellah, says Tabi's visit to Rabat is likely false hope.

"The visit of the Algerian minister to Morocco is a matter of an obligation as a host of the Arab summit, no more. It is unlikely that after this visit anything will change between the two countries considering the historical disputes and mistrust dividing them," the Moroccan expert said.

The Moroccan-Algerian conflict stretches back to the early 1960s when Rabat attempted to seize a piece of desert territory that French colonial administrators had awarded to Algeria after independence. 

The Moroccan move led to a brief outbreak of fighting between the two countries, dubbed the "Sand War". 

The Western Sahara dispute deepened the conflict.

Since then the North African neighbours have been on an ongoing diplomatic standoff, with border closures and envoys being recalled whenever tensions mount.