The Algerian president stresses that the relationship with Morocco has reached “a point of no return”
March 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of Algeria, Abdelmayid Tebune, has affirmed that Spain’s position towards Western Sahara is an “individual” position of the Government of Pedro Sánchez and has stressed that the relationship with Morocco has reached “a point of no return”.
“We consider Spain’s position regarding Western Sahara as an individual and biased position of the Sánchez government”, he indicated in an interview with the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera in which he stated that these “secret actions do not exempt their responsibilities “.
Thus, he asserted that the Spanish government “has forgotten that it is the former colonial power in Western Sahara and that its responsibility still exists”, while regretting that relations with Morocco “have reached this level”.
Sánchez sent a letter to the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI, in March 2022, in which he maintained that Rabat’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which leaves this territory under Moroccan sovereignty although with some powers ceded, constitutes “the most serious basis and realistic” to achieve a solution to this conflict.
Madrid’s position was applauded by the Moroccan government and its foreign minister, Naser Burita, recently stated that the solution to the conflict “can only be conceived within the framework of the United Nations and on the basis of the Moroccan autonomy plan.” However, Spain’s change of position triggered harsh criticism from the Polisario Front, which maintains that this path “does not benefit peace and stability” in the region.
The former Spanish colony was occupied despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum, but differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers has so far prevented its call.
The Polisario Front declared the ceasefire with Morocco broken in September 2020 in response to a Moroccan military action against Saharawi activists in Guerguerat, in the demilitarized zone agreed near the border with Mauritania, which meant for the Saharawis a violation of the terms of the agreement in force since 1991.
RETURN OF THE ALGERIAN AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE
Tebune has also been critical of France after the latest tensions and has described the relationship with Paris as “fluctuating”, although he has confirmed that the Algerian ambassador will return “soon” to the French capital.
Algeria called its ambassador for consultations in February after “strongly protesting” against the “clandestine and illegal exfiltration” by Paris of Algerian opposition member Amira Buraui, who was in Tunisia.
The activist, sentenced to two years in prison in May 2021 for “attacking the person of the President of the Republic”, among other charges, was arrested in Tunisia on February 3 when she was preparing to travel to France after crossing the Algerian border and Tunisia clandestinely. However, she was transferred to the French Embassy, after which she finally traveled to Lyon.
Bilateral tensions surfaced again less than two months after the French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, announced the return “to a normal consular relationship” with Algeria after more than a year with the issuance of visas halved. by France, which strained relations between Paris and Algiers.
On the other hand, the Algerian president praised the “strategic, historical and very solid” relations with Italy and explained that the recently signed agreement with Rome “includes electricity, gas and hydrogen”. “We hope to apply it in cooperation with Europe”, he pointed out.
Tebune has also defended that Algiers could play a role of “mediator” in the war in Ukraine, given that “it is one of the few countries that has sufficient credibility” to do so, while confirming that he will make a visit to Ukraine in May Russia to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
