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Algeria has ordered the immediate recall of its ambassador to France following the country’s official announcement recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
This Algerian move comes hours after French President Emmanuel Macron addressed a letter to King Mohammed VI, announcing his country’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
France’s decision “was made with significant recklessness and disregard for the consequences,” the Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement today, claiming that Paris’s endorsement of Morocco’s Sahara stance is a violation of international law.
In supporting support Morocco’s autonomy plan as the “only basis for resolving the Western Sahara conflict within the framework of alleged Moroccan sovereignty, the French government violates international legitimacy, denies the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, and contradicts all the diligent efforts made by the United Nations to complete the decolonization process in Western Sahara,” fumed the Algerian ministry.
It concluded its statement by announcing the immediate withdrawal of its ambassador to France.
Earlier today, Morocco’s royal cabinet said President Macron had conveyed to King Mohammed VI his country’s decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
According to the royal cabinet, President Macron notably informed the King that he “considers that the present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”
The letter further stressed that France sees the Moroccan autonomy initiative as the most viable and best basis to achieve a just, lasting, and negotiated political solution to the Sahara dispute.
Algeria’s outraged reaction to the French decision comes as no surprise, with the Algerian government being the most vocal and consistent sponsor of separatist maneuverings in the disputed Western Sahara region in southern Morocco.
In 2022, Algeria similarly recalled its ambassador to Spain in protest of Madrid’s decision to officially endorse the Moroccan initiative as the most serious and credible political solution.
Meanwhile, as part of its policy of supporting separatism in southern Morocco, Algeria has relentlessly invested in anti-Moroccan lobbying efforts in the US, Africa, and the world stage.