Ongoing problems between Algeria and Morocco

If it were up to official Moroccan and Algerian media outlets, it would be years before the two countries inked a viable agreement about how to handle a longstanding border dispute in the Western Sahara.

Critics on both sides of the border say official media has been battling over the legitimacy of the Western Sahara since Morocco annexed the territory after former colonial power Spain left in the 1970's.

Algeria has suggested letting the independence-minded Polisario movement vote for its own independence, while Morocco has offered the inhabitants in the Western Sahara a form of autonomy under Moroccan rule.

Relations between the two countries have been at a standstill on the issue since 1994, when gunmen killed 2 Spanish tourists at a hotel in Marrakech, something Morocco blames Algeria for - charges the Algerian government flatly denies.

And the typical news coverage between the countries resembles the back and forth of a tennis match:

More on this tennis match on Daily Maghreb