Algeria announced Tuesday it was withdrawing its ambassador to Paris following France’s statement that autonomy within Morocco is the “only” solution to the Western Saharan dispute.
In a letter to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, French President Macron congratulated him on his 25th coronation anniversary and stated that Rabat’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara is the sole basis for a just, lasting, and negotiated solution.
This statement sparked outrage from the pro-independence Polisario Front and its main supporter, Algeria.
The Algerian foreign ministry announced that its diplomatic representation in France is now under a charge d’affaires.
The ministry criticized France’s unprecedented step, as reported by Algeria’s APS news agency.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is mostly controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Polisario Front, which declared a “self-defense war” in 2020 seeking independence.
The UN, with a peacekeeping mission there since 1991, considers it a “non-self-governing territory” and aims to organize a referendum, which Morocco rejects if independence is an option.
Macron’s letter emphasized the importance of economic and social development in the region.