UK Backs Morocco’s Sahara Plan, Sparking Algerian Outcry

In a statement to Al3omk, Noureddine observed that the rapid reaction of Algerian authorities, who issued a communiqué on June 1st, the date of Great Britain’s announcement of its support for Morocco’s autonomy plan, is proof of the "shock" and the extent of the "setback" suffered by Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s country, emphasizing that Great Britain is the third permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, after the United States and France, to express its support for the Moroccan proposal.

The expert also noted a "blatant contradiction" in the communiqué from the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which Algeria first expressed its "regret" regarding Great Britain’s support for Morocco’s Sahara autonomy plan, before subsequently claiming that this country has not recognized "Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara" and that it has not provided "any support" to Morocco. For Noureddine, this contradiction is "the most obvious of contradictions" and proof that Algeria "is experiencing a state of diplomatic vertigo" and "has no more cards to play".

The international relations specialist notes that this latest slap received by Algeria testifies to "its dismay and the disorientation in which it finds itself in light of the successive victories of Moroccan diplomacy", as well as the "total isolation" that the country is experiencing on the international stage. Ahmed Noureddine emphasizes that Algeria almost "begged" in its communiqué for Great Britain, as a member of the Security Council, to "ensure respect for international legitimacy and to challenge Morocco", seeing in this "supplication" "another proof of Algeria’s crushing defeat against Morocco".

The expert also observed a change in Algeria’s attitude, which did not take measures against Great Britain after its support for Morocco’s Sahara autonomy plan, as it had done with France by recalling its ambassador and threatening to suspend its economic cooperation, or with Spain by recalling its ambassador and freezing its gas contract. This change in posture shows that Algeria "has understood that it is incapable of pursuing a policy of escalation and forward flight", or blackmail which "has proven ineffective, whether with France, Spain or all the countries that Algeria has tried to blackmail".

Ahmed Noureddine also noted another contradiction in this communiqué in which Algeria recognizes a "fictitious republic in Tindouf", while claiming to "want self-determination and demanding a self-determination referendum". These two contradictory positions "can only coexist in the minds of Algerians and in that of the Algerian state, which has become the laughingstock of the world because of these blatant contradictions", said the expert, specifying that Algeria aims for only one objective: "to hinder Morocco’s progress and undermine its unity, no matter who it allies with, even with the devil". He concluded that "Algeria has lost its balance and the compass of its foreign policy".