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The Morice Line was a defensive line that went into effect in September 1957 during the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
. It was constructed by the French to prevent the rebel guerrillas of the Algerian National Liberation Front from entering
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
, then a French colony, from two neighboring countries,
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
and
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. It was named after then French Minister of Defence André Morice.


Design

The center of the Morice Line was a 2.5 m high electric fence that ran its entire length. This electric fence carried 5,000 volts and also had barbed wire entanglement on one side. On each side of the fence was a minefield that extended 45 meters to each side. On the Algerian side there was also a patrolled track. The Morice Line was 460 km long along the border with Tunisia and 700 km long along the border with Morocco, and was built with then state-of-the-art electronic systems and a mined barrage. These alarms, radars and searchlights, and the use of anti-personnel landmines helped to coordinate a response from the forces assigned to the line. These forces combined with the previous electronic systems made the line almost impenetrable.


Importance of the Line

The Morice Line had a significant impact of the reduction of guerrillas activities by forces that originated from Tunisia. Though the Morice Line was not a "fortification" in the traditional sense of the word, it was nonetheless effective in reducing FLN activity during the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
.


Anti-personnel landmines

Following the end of the war in 1962, extensive efforts were made by the new Algerian authorities to clear and dismantle the Morice Line. They included the forced employment of captured
harkis ''Harki'' (adjective from the Arabic ''harka'', standard Arabic ''haraka'' حركة, "war party" or "movement", i.e., a group of volunteers, especially soldiers) is the generic term for native Muslim Algerian who served as auxiliaries in the F ...
and other Muslim loyalists who had served with the French Army, many of whom were killed by landmines. Decades after the confrontation came to an end, the Morice Line, which had been heavily mined by the French, continued to cause casualties among local Algerian populations. Algeria eventually joined the
Ottawa Treaty The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of 1997, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or often simply the Mine ...
, which bans the use of landmines, and in 2017, Algeria announced that after decades of work, it had fulfilled its mine clearance obligation under the treaty. It announced the clearing of the last 93 mined or suspected mined areas, including 78 former mine barrages{{Cite web, url=https://www.apminebanconvention.org/en/newsroom/press-releases/detail/article/1486685226-after-decades-of-work-algeria-one-of-the-most-mine-affected-countries-in-the-world-is/, title=AP Mine Ban Convention: After decades of work, Algeria, one of the most mine-affected countries in the world, is now free from this scourge, last=, first=, date=2017-02-10, website=www.apminebanconvention.org, language=en, archive-url=, archive-date=, access-date=2017-04-01 in the Morice Line.


References

* ''The History of Fortification'' Chicago: St. Martin's Press 1981 ;Notes Algerian War Algeria–Morocco border Algeria–Tunisia border