The border crisis between Melilla and Nador has revived long-standing demands to reinstate the visa-free crossing system, as the border crossings have recently become a point of unprecedented tension and congestion. While Spanish voices speak of an «economic and social paralysis» within Melilla, Moroccan stakeholders are calling for easing the restrictions that have impacted familial and humanitarian ties between the two sides.
A little over a month and a half after Algeria's initial intervention in Ksar Ich, in the province of Figuig, soldiers from the eastern neighbor are active in the area and are asserting their sovereignty, leaving the local residents in a difficult situation. At the end of March, the Algerian army was deployed on the only provincial road leading to the border oasis.