The Moroccan Royal Cabinet affirmed on Tuesday, July 30, that France had strengthened its support for the Moroccan plan for Western Sahara, considering that it was “the only basis” for resolving the nearly fifty-year conflict with the Polisario separatists.
According to a statement from the Royal Cabinet, released on the occasion of the Throne Day marking the 25th anniversary of the enthronement of Mohammed VI, French President Emmanuel Macron sent him a letter indicating that the Moroccan plan “now constitutes the only basis for achieving a just, lasting and negotiated political solution, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.” “The present and future of Western Sahara are part of Moroccan sovereignty,” it says.
A contested territory
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is controlled largely by Morocco – which is proposing an autonomy plan under its sovereignty – but claimed by the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, who are demanding a referendum on self-determination planned during a ceasefire in 1991 but never organized. The UN considers this territory, with its rich fish waters and significant phosphate reserves, as a “non-self-governing territory”.
“For France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework in which this issue must be resolved. Our support for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007 is clear and constant,” wrote the French president in this letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. “Moreover, the pursuit of the economic and social development of this region is an imperative. I welcome all the efforts made by Morocco in this regard. France will support it in this approach for the benefit of local populations,” added Emmanuel Macron.
Algeria had already expressed its “disapproval” last Thursday of an “unexpected decision” by Paris on the question of Western Sahara. Indicating that it had been informed a few days earlier, Algiers had castigated an “inopportune and counterproductive decision” which “does not help to bring together the conditions for a peaceful settlement” of this issue. Algeria “will draw all the consequences that flow from this French decision” and for which the French government “assumes sole full and entire responsibility”, added the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.