France Backs Morocco’s Western Sahara Plan in Letter to King
For nearly 50 years, the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara has been disputed territory in northern Africa, claimed by Morocco but fought over by an Indigenous independence movement supported by neighboring Algeria.
Now, France — one of the main former colonial powers in the region — has shifted its position on the conflict by backing a plan for the region’s autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. Algeria, Morocco’s bitter adversary, quickly condemned the decision and announced that it was withdrawing its ambassador to France.
Here’s what you need to know about the conflict around Western Sahara.
What is the dispute about?
Western Sahara is a vast, arid expanse on the northwestern shoulder of Africa that is larger than Britain but is inhabited by only about 600,000 people.
Even when Spain controlled Western Sahara, Morocco, which lies just north of it, claimed sovereignty over the region. In 1975, Spain withdrew from the territory and it was annexed by Morocco.
That prompted a 16-year armed conflict with the Polisario Front, an independence movement representing the region’s Indigenous Sahrawi ethnic group. A United Nations-brokered cease-fire in 1991 was broken in late 2020, but the region has been stable recently. Morocco controls most of the territory, including the entire 500-mile-long Atlantic coast, while Polisario is limited to occupying parts of the desert interior.
Dozens of countries, including most of those in Africa, have formally recognized a Sahrawi Republic — though the world’s major powers and the United Nations have not.
Why is Algeria involved?
Algeria, which borders both Morocco and Western Sahara, has actively supported the Polisario and is home to more than 100,000 Sahrawis living in refugee camps, as well as the Polisario’s leadership.
Algeria does not have any claim to Western Sahara itself. But it is a major point of friction in its regional rivalry with Morocco.
“Once it became clear that Western Sahara was going to become this Moroccan expansionist project, that’s when Algeria became concerned,” said Jacob Mundy, an associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Colgate University who has written about Western Sahara. “It’s about whether or not they have a place at the table when it comes to what states are in North Africa.”
Algeria, a country that freed itself from French domination, is also motivated by “ideological sympathy” for Polisario, Mr. Mundy added, referring to its fight for self-determination.
What did France announce this week?
France has now thrown its full support behind a Moroccan plan, first put forth in 2007, that gives Western Sahara limited autonomy but keeps it under Moroccan control.
In a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco that was made public on Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron of France said that Morocco’s plan was “the only basis for achieving a just, lasting and negotiated political solution in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”
That was a notable departure from France’s prior position. The French authorities previously argued that Morocco’s plan for autonomy was a “serious and credible” basis for discussion, but not the only one.
“I consider that the present and the future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty,” Mr. Macron wrote in the letter, which was sent to the king on the 25th anniversary of his ascension to the throne.
Other countries including Spain have already backed Morocco’s plan. In 2020, under the Trump administration, the United States recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco normalizing relations with Israel.
Riccardo Fabiani, the North Africa project director for the International Crisis Group, said France’s decision set a “new diplomatic standard” for European countries that might hesitate to directly recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
“Now that Spain and France have adopted this language” — that the autonomy plan is “the only” basis for a settlement — “it will probably spread fairly quickly,” he said.
What were the reactions?
Mr. Macron’s letter was met with celebratory headlines in Morocco, where a statement from the king’s office called it an “important and significant evolution.”
Aboubakr Jamai, dean of the Madrid center at the American College of the Mediterranean, said that “the Moroccan regime desperately needed a win on the Sahara issue.”
“Morocco sold the widely unpopular normalization with Israel as a quid pro quo for the recognition of its sovereignty on the Western Sahara,” he said. “The Gaza situation made Morocco’s position increasingly untenable vis-à-vis its public opinion.”
But anger from the Polisario and Algeria was swift.
Algeria denounced France’s move and announced that it was withdrawing its ambassador to Paris. In a statement, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused France of “flouting international law” and warned that the French government had not “fully grasped the potential repercussions.”
Sidi Omar, the Polisario’s representative at the United Nations, said on the social media platform X that France had taken a “hostile and escalatory position toward the Sahrawi people.”
Why is the move important for France?
France has in recent years walked a tightrope in its diplomatic ties to Morocco, a former French protectorate, and Algeria, a former colony.
Relations between France and Morocco had soured in recent years over a number of issues, including Western Sahara, France’s push for closer ties to Algeria, and revelations that Morocco may have been monitoring Mr. Macron’s cellphone using the spyware Pegasus. France also temporarily restricted delivering visas to Moroccan nationals.
Mr. Macron has tried to reset tense relations with Algeria, which gained independence in 1962 after a brutal war. He acknowledged the use of torture by French forces, and asked for forgiveness for the abandonment of the hundreds of thousands of Algerian Arabs, known as Harkis, who fought on the French side in the war of independence. His government also established a commission to review the two countries’ colonial history.
France’s backing of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara seemed to acknowledge that the outreach toward Algeria had not been as effective as hoped.
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