President Emmanuel Macron has said that France supports a plan for autonomy in the Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, describing it as the "only way" to resolve the longstanding territorial dispute. In response, Algeria announced is recalling its ambassador from France.
France has acknowledged Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, marking a significant shift in its long-standing position. Meanwhile, the United Nations-mediated peace process remains at a standstill.
In a letter to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, President Macron stated, "For France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework within which this issue must be resolved."
He added, "Our support for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007 is clear and unwavering. For France, this plan now represents the only basis for reaching a just, lasting, and negotiated political solution in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions.
According to a statement from the Moroccan Royal Cabinet, the French president sent this letter to Mohammed VI on the occasion of the Throne Day which marks the arrival in power of Mohammed VI, in 1999.
The Royal Palace in the statement welcomed the announcement and said it was a "significant development in support of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara."
Algeria said a few hours later that it is recalling its ambassador to France over Western Sahara rift.
"The Algerian diplomatic representation in France is now the responsibility of a charge d'affaires," the Algerian foreign ministry was quoted as saying by the official Algerian news agency APS.
The ministry denounced Macron's statement as a "step that no other French government had taken before."
Disputed territory
The distue originated in 1975 between and involves Morocco,, which claims the Western Sahara as its territory, and the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, which advocates for the region's independence.
France, as the latest former colonial power in the region has long walked a diplomatic tightrope between Rabat and Algiers on the issue, but recently sent good signals to Morocco.
Most of France's Western allies already back Morocco's plan.
Spain, which colonised Western Sahara for decades, publicly recognised the plan for Western Sahara put forward by Morocco in March 2022.
For Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of the DAWN think tank (Democracy for the Arab World Now), the recognition by France of Morocco's annexation on Western Sahara undermines the rule of law, not only in North Africa but all over the world, including in Ukraine.
"The only way to resolve the conflict and territorial dispute would be the promised referendum," she told RFI English.
"The annexation of Western Sahara is as illegal as the one of Crimea in Ukraine, or the annexation of Jerusalem by Israel. So, any decision from French President Macron to side with Rabat would cause harm with global implications," she added.
She thinks that Macron should have ignored the pressure from Morocco, as the country has no major leverage on France.
Historical colonial dispute
Western Sahara has for long been designated by the UN as a "non-self-governing territory" whose people "have not yet attained a full measure of self-government".
An armed conflict has opposed Morocco to the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front in this vast desert territory bordering the Atlantic since 1975.
Polisario has been supported by Algeria, to where most Sahrawi refugees have fled.
Morocco controls 80 percent of the territory, while an area bordering Mauritania that is almost totally landlocked is run by the Polisario Front.
Morocco's interest in the land is in its fish-filled waters and significant phosphate reserves, but also and mostly on its historical claim regarding its sovereignty over parts of the Sahara desert.
The territorial dispute dates back to colonial times, when Spain ruled over the actual Western Sahara and parts of Morocco, while France held the rest of North Africa including today's Algeria and Tunisia.
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In its most recent report, the international Crisis Group said it regretted teh fact that the UN had not been able to bring all actors to the table and to find a peaceful, negotiated and democratic solution for the future of what the Polisario calls the last colonised part of Africa.
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Accept Manage my choices A UN-mediated Settlement Plan was put into place in 1991.
It included a ceasefire, a buffer zone that divided Western Sahara along the sand berm and provisions for a referendum on self-determination for the entire territory.
It also created a UN mission, MINURSO, to monitor the ceasefire and organise the referendum vote.
But the referendum never took place, and subsequent talks failed to make notable progress.
(with newswires)
