French visit to Western Saharan region condemned by Algeria
Algeria has condemned French Culture Minister Rachida Dati after she visited the contested Western Saharan territory earlier this week, according to Le Monde on 18th February.
An Algerian foreign minister took to social media to say that the French visit ‘reflects blatant disregard for international legality by a permanent member of the UN Security Council’.
Dati described her visit as ‘historic’.
After the French government recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Saharan region last year, Algeria called the decision ‘objectionable on multiple levels’.
The Western Sahara has been a source of intense controversy over recent years.
The region was a Spanish colony from 1884 – 1976.
However, after 1976, Morocco assumed control of the northern two thirds of the region, with Mauritania taking control of the southern third.
However, this assumption of control has proved highly controversial.
Algeria claims that the decolonisation process is incomplete and the right to self determination of the native Saharawi population has been unfulfilled.
The United Nations has had a peacekeeping mission in the territory since 1991 and considers it to be a ‘non-self governing territory’.
Despite this, Morocco has rejected any appeals for independence and has ruled out any vote in which independence for the region is on the ballot.
France had been ambitious on its stance on the Western Sahara over the past decade.
However, in July French President Emmanuel Macron claimed that Moroccan sovereignty was the only solution for the region.
Algeria’s relationship with Morocco has suffered in recent years.
Algeria has supported the separatist Polisario Front and cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021 following Morocco’s ‘normalised’ relations with Israel after the signing of the Abraham Accords.
The UN Security Council has called for all parties to engage in negotiations in order to find a ‘lasting and mutually acceptable solution’.
The visit of Dati will do little to ease the regional tensions.
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