Morocco's ambassador to Algiers is to resume work on Monday, after having been recalled in a spat over disputed Western Sahara, a senior Moroccan official said.

"The ambassador has arrived in Algeria and he will resume his duties tomorrow (Monday)," the official told Agence France Presse on Sunday, asking not to be named.

Author Yasmina Khadra said on Saturday that he plans to run as an independent candidate in Algeria's April 2014 presidential election.

"It's official. I am a candidate for the 2014 presidential election," he told Agence France Presse by telephone.

Niger has rounded up close to 150 migrants crossing the Sahara to Algeria in the past two days, in a crackdown on illegal migration after 92 people died of thirst trying to make the same desert journey.

The grisly discovery Wednesday of the bodies of mostly women and children left stranded in the harsh Sahara desert after their trucks broke down, has prompted Niamey to clamp down on migrant trafficking networks.

A young Moroccan tore down the Algerian flag from the roof of that country's consulate in Casablanca during a protest Friday over Western Sahara, sparking an angry protest from Algiers.

A video widely circulated on Internet sites in Morocco shows the man climbing the walls of the building to reach the flag.

Algeria said Thursday it considers as "unjustified" a decision by Morocco to recall its ambassador in response to comments by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika about disputed Western Sahara.

The spat follows the latest barbed exchange between the North African neighbors whose decades-old rivalry centers on the disputed territory, annexed by Morocco in 1975 in a move never recognized by the international community.

Amid new tensions over Western Sahara, a U.N. envoy said Wednesday there was still no hope of convening face-to-face talks on the disputed territory between Morocco and pro-independence rebels.

Morocco, which occupies the territory, recalled its ambassador to Algiers as the U.N. Security Council held talks on Western Sahara. Algeria is a key backer of the Polisario Front independence movement.

Morocco on Wednesday decided to recall its ambassador to Algeria over President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's "provocative" comments about the disputed Western Sahara, the foreign ministry said.

"This decision comes after a growing number of provocative and hostile acts by Algeria, towards the kingdom," and particularly a speech by the Algerian head of state at a meeting in Abuja on Monday, the Moroccan ministry said in a statement.

The bodies of 87 migrants were found Wednesday in Niger's desert north after they died of thirst, a security sources said.

The corpses of the seven men, 32 women and 48 children were in addition to five bodies of women and girls found earlier, the sources said, adding that they had been trying to emigrate to Algeria.

Algeria on Tuesday branded as unacceptable comments published by official Moroccan media in response to criticism of its human rights policy in Western Sahara, in the latest barbed exchange between Rabat and Algiers.

The insults by the North African arch-rivals come ahead of a report to be presented to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday by special envoy Christopher Ross, who visited the region this month.

Dozens of migrants from Niger heading for Algeria died of thirst in the Sahara desert after their vehicle broke down, local officials said Monday, while police said 19 survived.

"About 40 Nigeriens, including numerous children and women, who were attempting to emigrate to Algeria, died of thirst in mid-October," Rhissa Feltou, the mayor of the main northern town of Agadez, told Agence France Presse.