ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algeria has recalled its ambassador to Spain for consultations on Madrid’s change of position on Western Sahara, the Algerian foreign minister said on Saturday.
This decision comes the day after a rapprochement between Spain and Morocco in an attempt to settle a diplomatic dispute over Western Sahara.
This territory is the scene of a conflict between the separatists of the Polisario Front – supported by Algiers – and Morocco, which considers Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory.
Morocco said on Friday it had received a letter from the Spanish authorities in which the latter consider the Moroccan autonomy project for Western Sahara as “the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving the dispute”.
A Spanish government source told Reuters that Spain had informed Algeria on Saturday of its position “in relation to Western Sahara”.
“Very surprised by the declarations of the highest Spanish authorities relating to the Western Sahara file, the Algerian authorities, surprised by this sudden reversal of position of the former administering power of Western Sahara, decided to recall their ambassador to Madrid for consultations with immediate effect”, can we read in the communiqué of the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Spain’s new stance on the disputed territory is an “unexpected” change as Madrid have always taken a neutral stance, an Algerian diplomatic source has said.
(With Graham Keeley Barcelona and Belen Carreo Madrid; French version Laetitia Volga)
by Lamine Chikhi