Rabat - The Algerian government has threatened to impose sanctions against France over Paris’s new position on the Western Sahara dispute.
After recalling the Algerian ambassador from Paris, Algeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf announced on Wednesday that his country would take further measures against France.
“This is not a recall of the ambassador for consultation. It is a reduction in diplomatic representation. It is a significant step to express our condemnation and disapproval,” Attaf said at a press conference.
The withdrawal of the Algerian ambassador was the first step that would be followed by other actions, Attaf said, claiming that President Macron informed Tebboune of his country’s Sahara decision back in June.
“The French decision does not serve the peaceful resolution of the Western Sahara issue” and “contradicts the diplomatic efforts of the UN and some international actors,” he fumed.
On Tuesday, the Moroccan royal cabinet issued a statement announcing President Macron’s confirmation of his country’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
The “present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Morocco’s sovereignty,” the royal cabinet quoted President Macron as saying in his letter to King Mohammed VI.
The King responded to Macron’s decision by welcoming the French government for its clear and strong position in support of the exclusive centrality of the Moroccan plan to resolve the Saara dispute, the statement.
France’s decision followed a hasty statement last week by the Algerian Foreign Ministry, which hinted at and denounced a possible move by Paris to recognize Moroccan sovereignty.
Algeria deleted the hasty press release the same day but issued a new statement on Monday against France’s decision after Macron officially announced his country’s new position on the Sahara.
Algeria’s threats against France echo its equally indignant reaction when Spain endorsed Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible basis for resolving the Sahara dispute in March 2022.
As with France this week, Algeria also recalled its ambassador to Madrid and also terminated a 20-year-old Friendship Treaty with the European country in protest of its embrace of the Moroccan plan for the Sahara.