Published on: 04/24/2022 – 08:37
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday called Spain’s reversal in favor of Morocco’s position on the thorny issue of Western Sahara “morally and historically unacceptable”.
Spain’s reversal in favor of Morocco’s position on Western Sahara was “morally and historically unacceptable,” Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Saturday (April 23).
In an interview with national media, Abdelmadjid Tebboune condemned the Spanish government’s March 18 announcement of support for a Moroccan autonomy plan, breaking with the former colonial power’s traditional position of neutrality.
“We have very close ties with the Spanish state, but the head of government (Pedro Sanchez, ed.) ruined everything,” added the Algerian leader.
Pedro Sanchez called the Moroccan plan “the most serious, realistic and credible basis for settling this dispute”.
Algiers condemned a “about-face” by Spain, recalling its ambassador to Spain on March 19 and demanding “clarifications” ahead of a possible return of its representative to Madrid.
Conflict in this vast desert area, surrounded by fish-rich waters and a rich mining subsoil, and considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, has pitted Morocco against the Algiers-backed Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front for decades. .
Rabat, which controls nearly 80% of Western Sahara, is proposing an autonomy plan under its sovereignty, while the Polisario is calling for a self-determination referendum that was planned by the UN when a ceasefire was signed in 1991 but never materialized.
“The UN regards Spain as the administering power as long as there is no solution in Western Sahara,” Abdelmadjid Tebboune continued.
Algeria calls for “the application of international law”. “Spain must not give up its historical responsibility and must revise its position,” he added.
>> Also read: Western Sahara: the origins of the crisis between Spain and Morocco
However, President Tebboune stressed that Algeria would “never give up its commitments to ensure gas supplies to Spain under any circumstances”. Spain is heavily dependent on Algeria for its gas supplies.
In early April, Algerian state-owned oil and gas company Sonatrach had mentioned an increase in the price of gas shipped to Spain due to the surge in markets due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sonatrach Managing Director Toufik Hakkar then pointed out to the official agency APS that “it was not out of the question to carry out a ‘recalculation’ of the prices for our Spanish customer”.
With AFP