Morocco launches probe into Algeria’s jet ski killing

Mourners attend the funeral of Bilal Kissi, shot dead by the Algerian coastguard when he and a fellow jet skier strayed across the maritime border between Algeria and Morocco, in the city of Saidia in northeastern Morocco on August 31, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 01 September 2023
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Morocco launches probe into Algeria’s jet ski killing

  • Mohammed Kissi told authorities on his return to Moroccan waters that the four jet skiers had got lost and had run out of fuel

RABAT: Morocco has begun an investigation into the death of a French-Moroccan after he and another Moroccan on jet skis were shot dead by the Algerian coast guard, media reports said on Friday.
The French Foreign Ministry in Paris reported only one death without providing the circumstances, saying another of its citizens had been jailed in “an incident involving several of our nationals.”
In Morocco, the prosecutor’s office began investigating the death of one of the young men “after the discovery of his body on the beach at Saidia,” the Al-Omk website reported.
Bilal Kissi was buried on Thursday in Bni Drar village near Oujda, a city bordering Algeria, images obtained by AFP showed.
He and his brother Mohammed, their Moroccan cousin Abdelali Mechouar and their friend Smail Snabe, also said to be French-Moroccan, had left Saidia on jet skis on Tuesday.

FASTFACT

Saidia is a popular summer seaside resort near the border with Algeria and is known for its long beach and water sports.

Saidia is a popular summer seaside resort near the border with Algeria and is known for its long beach and water sports.
“We got lost but we kept going until we found ourselves in Algeria,” Mohammed Kissi was quoted as saying by Al-Omk
on Thursday.
“We knew we were in Algeria because a black Algerian dinghy came toward us” and those on board “fired at us.”
After the shooting, Mohammed Kissi was able to get back to Morocco and report what had happened.
Mechouar’s body is still in Algeria, Moroccan media said, adding that Snabe had been wounded and was being detained by the authorities there.
“We buried a brother and want Abdelali’s body back. He’s our cousin,” a video released by Al-Omk showed a cousin of Bilal Kissi as saying.
“These young people weren’t involved in drugs and they hadn’t stolen anything. They are of good standing and were only here on a family holiday” from France where they worked, the
cousin said.
“One (of those who died) left two children, the other a daughter,” he added.
Mohammed Kissi told authorities on his return to Moroccan waters that the four jet skiers had got lost and had run out of fuel.
There has been no official comment from either Algeria or Morocco about the incident which comes against a backdrop of increased tensions exacerbated by their antagonism over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

 


Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine

President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar. (AFP file photo)
Updated 02 February 2026
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Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine

  • The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030
  • The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium

ALGEIRS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, a project he called one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometers north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium.
During the inauguration, Tebboune described it as “one of the largest strategic projects in the history of independent Algeria.”
This project aims to increase Algeria’s iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa’s leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria’s economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending toward the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.