Algeria’s President Defiant on Sahara Conflict, Border Closure

"Let them insult us and threaten us, we will not abandon Western Sahara," Tebboune said on Thursday, in front of the cadres of the People’s National Army (ANP), recalling that "the issue of Western Sahara is a decolonization issue, it is the last colony in Africa and the file is at the UN level".

The Algerian president then reiterated his country’s wish to see this issue resolved, for the happiness of the Sahrawis. The Algerians do not want to be "more Sahrawi than the Sahrawis," he insisted, adding that they will accept the solution validated by the Sahrawis. "As for the solutions they do not want, as long as we are in their neighborhood, we will not let anyone impose them on them." For the Algerian head of state, the conflict in the Sahara will not be resolved "with lies, this people want their independence."

The other point addressed by Abdelmadjid Tebboune concerns the closure of the border with Morocco. "There are brothers who, in good faith, ask us to open the borders. But the borders were not closed because of the Western Sahara. They were closed for other reasons. In 63 years of independence, our borders have remained closed for more than 45 years," he clarified.

Algeria unilaterally closed its border with Morocco in 1994, in reaction to Moroccan accusations deemed unfounded and entry restrictions imposed on Algerians in the kingdom, following a terrorist attack in Marrakech.