Algeria wants a sharing of the Moroccan Sahara

Omar Hilale attributes the political paternity of this proposal to share the Sahara to Algeria. "Neither the former personal envoy, James Baker, nor the current one, Staffan de Mistura, were the originators of this idea of partition. They were only messengers of Algeria," said the Moroccan diplomat, during a press briefing held after the adoption by the Security Council of the resolution on the Sahara.

Morocco’s representative to the UN recalled that this proposal had first been presented by former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on November 2, 2001, during his meeting with James Baker in Houston. It was then mentioned by the former Algerian permanent representative in New York, Abdellah Baali, in his letter to the President of the Security Council on July 22, 2002, before being put back on the table during De Mistura’s visit to Algiers at the beginning of the year, Omar Hilale continued.

Algeria uses the partition of the Sahara as "a habitual outlet for its diplomatic setbacks," insisted the Moroccan ambassador, referring to the pressures the Security Council is exerting on Algeria to return to the round table, as well as the recognitions of the Moroccanness of the Sahara by the United States and France, and the support of EU member countries for the Moroccan autonomy plan, not to mention the opening of about thirty consulates in Laâyoune and Dakhla, in the Moroccan Sahara.

Omar Hilale reiterated Morocco’s clear and firm position on this Algerian proposal, affirmed by Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs: "Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and its territorial integrity have never been on the negotiating table." The Algerian diplomat recalled that the oath of allegiance made by the Sahrawis to the Green March before King Hassan II is proof of the allegiance of the Saharan tribes to the Moroccan sovereigns. The blood of the Royal Armed Forces shed in the defense and preservation of the Sahara will not have been in vain, he concluded, rejecting the idea of a partition of the Sahara.