Algeria supports the exiled Sahrawi Polisario Front and rejects Moroccan administration of Western Sahara; Algeria's border with Morocco remains an irritant to bilateral relations, each nation has accused the other of harboring militants and arms smuggling; in an attempt to improve relations after unilaterally imposing a visa requirement on Algerians in the early 1990s, Morocco lifted the requirement in mid-2004 - a gesture not reciprocated by Algeria; Algeria remains concerned about armed bandits operating throughout the Sahel who sometimes destabilize southern Algerian towns; dormant disputes include Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria and the FLN's assertions of a claim to Chirac Pastures in southeastern Morocco
Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
Refugees (country of origin): 165,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southwestern Algerian town of Tindouf)
IDPs: 100,000 - 200,000 (conflict between government forces, Islamic insurgents) (2004)
