Algeria on Tuesday recalled its ambassador to France to protest Paris’ backing of Morocco’s autonomy plan for a long-running territorial dispute over Western Sahara.
“The French government declared its definitive and explicit support for the colonial reality imposed on the Western Sahara region,” Algeria’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“This step, which no previous French government did, has been taken by the current government with great disdain and disregard and without any insightful evaluation of the consequences,” it added.
The move came hours after Morocco said that French President Emmanuel Macron wrote, in a letter to Moroccan King Mohammed VI, that he “considers that the present and future of Western Sahara lies within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”
Macron assured the king that “for France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework where this issue must be resolved,” according to a statement by Morocco’s royal court.
This French declaration, Morocco said, is considered “an important and significant development in supporting Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.”
Western Sahara, claimed by Morocco, was a Spanish colony until 1975.
After Spain’s withdrawal, Morocco annexed parts of the territory. Rabat has since controlled large parts of the sparsely populated but resource-rich desert area.
However, the Polisario Front movement is striving for an independent state in Western Sahara and is supported by Algeria.
There are repeated battles between the Polisario and the Moroccan army.
Morocco’s claim to the territory is not internationally recognised, however, it was recognised by the United States and Israel.
In 2022, Algeria withdrew its ambassador to Spain in protest against Madrid’s concession to Morocco that Western Sahara could be an autonomous province under Moroccan sovereignty as proposed by Rabat.
Algiers only sent back an ambassador to Madrid more than a year later.
Algeria supports holding a self determination referendum in Western Sahara. (dpa/NAN)
