Algeria calls its ambassador in Madrid for consultations after describing the Spanish decision on the Sahara as "treason"
Algeria has decided to call its ambassador in Madrid for consultations with “immediate” effect after the declarations of the highest Spanish authorities and their “sudden change” of position on the Sahara, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this Saturday.
The note explains that the Algerian Foreign Ministry has been “very surprised” by Spain’s support for Morocco’s autonomy project for the Sahara, which is why it has decided to call its ambassador in Madrid “for consultations with immediate effect.”
Algerian diplomatic sources have criticized the decision of the Spanish Government to support the Moroccan autonomy plan as a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, a change of position that they consider Madrid’s “second historical betrayal” of the Saharawi people.
“It is the second historical betrayal of the Saharawi people by Madrid after the disastrous agreement of 1975,” the source pointed out, quoted by the Algerian news portal TSA. “Finally, Morocco has obtained what it wanted from Spain,” said the Algerian diplomat.
The first betrayal, giving up the Sahara
It would be the second “betrayal” due to the agreement signed on November 14, 1975 by which it ceded the former colony of Spanish Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania, without taking into account the will of the Saharawi population.
This Madrid Agreement was immediately denounced by the Polisario Front, erected as the representative of the Saharawi people and which immediately proclaimed the independence of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
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The Polisario Front militias defeated the Mauritanian forces and Nouakchott renounced the part of Western Sahara that was assigned to it in the Madrid Agreement, but Morocco, with the Green March, managed to impose its control over the coastal part of the territory.
In 1991, Morocco and the Polisario Front signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum, but differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers have so far prevented its convening, backed by the UN in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
Spain-Algeria relationship
As for the strictly bilateral relationship between Algeria and Spain, Algiers is the main supplier of natural gas to the Peninsula at a delicate moment like the current one in terms of energy. Algiers broke diplomatic relations with Rabat last August and in November proceeded to close the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline (GME) that pumped gas to the Iberian Peninsula through Morocco.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, spoke on March 6 with the Algerian President, Abdelmayid Tebune, who reiterated not only his country’s commitment to guaranteeing supplies to Spain, but also Algeria’s willingness to help as much as possible, as reliable partner in energy matters that it wants to be, to the Europeans, according to government sources.
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, did not want to clarify this Friday if Algeria has been informed in advance about the change in the Government’s position, hiding behind the fact that “diplomacy requires discretion”, but he has been convinced that it will not affect the supply of gas to Spain by this country. “Algeria has repeatedly shown that it is a reliable partner,” he maintained, assuring that it maintains a “fluid” relationship with its Algerian counterpart.
However, this is the second ‘offense’ by the Government to Algeria in just over a month after it announced in early February that it had agreed to Morocco’s request to help guarantee its energy security through the regasification in Spain of Gas Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) purchased by Rabat for subsequent shipment to this country through the GME gas pipeline.
So, Algiers has already warned that under no circumstances could Spain send Algerian gas to Morocco. It remains to be seen how the Algerian government reacts to this change, which, on the other hand, has been much celebrated by Morocco and which considers that the diplomatic crisis that was triggered almost a year ago by the reception in Spain for humanitarian reasons of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim, has been overcome. Ghali.
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