Algerian President Claims Morocco’s Sahara Autonomy Plan Originated in France

In a "speech to the nation" delivered before the two chambers of Parliament on Sunday, December 29, the Algerian president stated that the autonomy plan presented by Morocco in 2007 for the Sahara is an "falsified" idea that "was born in France, in the time of President Jacques Chirac". According to him, the plan leaves the Sahrawis with the choice between "the bad and the worse". "This land does not belong to you and its political process is not complete," he added.

Tebboune also reiterated his country’s support for the self-determination referendum demanded by the Polisario Front. "We are with the right," he stressed. He took care to recall that, since 1972 at the Nouadhibou conference, then in Tlemcen and Ifrane, Algeria has always had the same position. "We have not changed, neither today nor in the future," he assured, also recalling that the Sahara issue is not registered at the level of a "charitable association" but rather at the UN decolonization commission.