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Algeria announced last week that it will suspend its decades-long friendship treaty with Spain, a former colonial power, over a disagreement about the status of Western Sahara.
Madrid announced in March that it would support the Moroccan effort for Western Sahara to operate autonomously but under Moroccan rule, the Financial Times reported.
Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, told his parliament on Wednesday that he believed that was the “most serious, realistic, and credible way” of resolving the ongoing conflict. Morocco is Algeria’s top rival.
Algiers called Spain’s change of heart “unjustifiable” and contrary to international law. Western Sahara is a mineral-rich region.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s office issued a swift statement to announce the suspension of the treaty that was first signed in 2002. An official from Madrid told The AFP that Spain, which was neutral about the land, said it “regrets the Algerian decision.”
The country ended all trade with Madrid. Spain said it would look to see if the ban is legal under a 2005 EU trade deal. Algeria said it will respect all its gas commitments with Spain.
In 1975, Spain, which had colonized the area, withdrew from the region. Morocco has been claiming since then that the region belonged to them.
The Polisario movement rejects Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara. Morocco and Algeria ended diplomatic ties in August over the land and Brahum Ghali, the Polisario leader, rejected Spain’s endorsement of Morocco and said, “Spain has pending bills that one day it will have to pay,” according to The New Arab.
Several Spanish sources told MiddleEastEye.net that the decision is not necessarily popular in Spain. One said it is “only the work of Pedro Sánchez.”
“Everyone in Spain agrees on one thing: the reversal of position on Western Sahara is the sole responsibility of Sanchez. Neither the PSOE [Socialist Party], nor the government, nor even the Minister of Foreign Affairs was consulted,” the source said. “In his speech to Parliament, Sanchez defended the diplomatic U-turn on the Western Sahara issue but did not once mention Algeria or answer questions about the bilateral crisis. I have the impression that the Algerian authorities once again feel ignored.”
TREND FORECAST: Morocco controls about 80 percent of Western Sahara and the rest of the region is controlled by the Polisario. The Polisario Front, which was founded in 1973 and backed by Algeria, carried out a 16-year guerrilla war and fought for decades with Rabat over parts of the desert. (See “CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO?”)
We reported in December 2020 that the Moroccan military clashed with fighters from the Polisario Front in several locations, which ended about 30 years of peace in the region.
The Trump administration recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the occupied region. The U.S. is the first major power to recognize Rabat’s claim over the region. The U.S. support was seen as a watershed moment and likely to be something Morocco will use in “future diplomatic engagements with other countries.”
As we continue to note, as civil wars erupt in sections of Africa and as the “Greatest Depression” worsens, protests, demonstrations, and riots will escalate across the globe. Civil wars will spread into regional wars… and regional wars will ignite World War.