Algeria has decided today, Tuesday, to immediately withdraw its ambassador to the French Republic following the French authorities' acknowledgment of the Moroccan stance on autonomy as the sole basis for resolving the Western Sahara dispute. The Algerian Foreign Ministry stated in a communiqué: "The French government has announced its unequivocal and explicit support for the colonial reality imposed in the Western Sahara region. This step, which no previous French government has taken, has been undertaken by the current government with great negligence and carelessness, without any prudent assessment of the consequences it entails."
The communiqué emphasized that "by recognizing the Moroccan autonomy plan as the sole basis for resolving the Western Sahara dispute within the framework of alleged Moroccan sovereignty, the French government violates international legitimacy and denies the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, contradicting all the diligent and persistent efforts made by the United Nations to complete the decolonization process in Western Sahara, in addition to shirking the specific responsibilities that arise from its permanent membership in the UN Security Council."
Therefore, "the Algerian government has decided to withdraw its ambassador to the French Republic with immediate effect, with the chargé d'affaires taking over the representation of Algerian diplomacy in France from now on," according to the statement. Earlier today, the Moroccan royal palace announced that Macron informed King Mohammed VI in a letter that he "believes that the present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty," and that the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco "now constitutes the sole basis for reaching a political, fair, sustainable, and negotiated solution according to the resolutions of the UN Security Council."
Macron added: "For France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework within which to resolve this issue," stressing that France's support for this plan is "clear and steadfast."
