Algeria rejects “hasty” EU comments after suspending friendship treaty with Spain – TV

(Reuters) – Algeria deplores and rejects “hasty” EU comments after its decision to suspend a 20-year-old friendship treaty with Spain, Ennahar TV reported on Saturday, quoting the foreign ministry.

Algiers was angered when Spain said in March it supported a Moroccan plan to offer autonomy to Western Sahara. Algeria backs the Polisario Front movement seeking full independence for the territory, which Morocco regards as its own and mostly controls.

The decision to block Algerian trade with Spain following a diplomatic row over Western Sahara could be a violation of European Union trade law, two senior EU officials said on Friday.

(Reporting by Yasmin Hussein; Editing by Angus MacSwan)