Algeria summons Moroccan ambassador in row over Syrian refugees

Algerian Foreign Ministry summoned Morocco's ambassador here on Sunday in protest of Morocco's accusations that Algeria expelled Syrian refugees into Morocco.

"Following serious accusations by Moroccan authorities that blame Algeria for forcing Syrian refugees to illegally enter Moroccan territories from the two countries' shared border, Algeria has expressed to the Ambassador of Morocco its categorical rejection for these false allegations," a ministry statement said.

"These completely groundless accusations are only intended to harm Algeria's ethics and well-established tradition of hospitality," the statement added.

Earlier on Sunday, Moroccan media reported that 55 Syrian refugees from Algeria were left helpless near the country's borders with Algeria, noting that Moroccan authorities prevented them from entering the country and accused its western neighbor of forcing them into Morocco.

Algiers and Rabat have been in tense relations with their border closed since 1994, the year Rabat started to impose visa entry on Algerian nationals as Morocco suspected Algerian security services of being behind a bomb attack in Marrakesh. Endit