The decision of President Donald Trump to recognize Morocco’s full and complete sovereignty over the entire Sahara is making headlines in the international press. The Spanish newspaper El Pais describes it on Saturday as "the greatest setback for the Polisario" since the ceasefire declared in 1991.
By agreeing to establish relations with Israel, the Kingdom has obtained from Washington the recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara. This exchange is simply a "gift" from Trump, said Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, a specialist in Israeli-Moroccan relations at the University of Tel Aviv, to AFP .
The Western Sahara conflict "is a decolonization issue that can only be resolved through the application of international law and the African Union" on the matter. This is what a statement from the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates following the United States’ decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.
While Moroccans residing in Bordeaux were demonstrating their support for the Moroccanness of the Sahara on Saturday on the Place de la Victoire, other demonstrators in favor of the "Saharawis" arrived on the scene. The two rallies degenerated into clashes.
Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, a specialist in Israeli-Moroccan relations at Tel-Aviv University, describes the U.S. recognition of the Moroccanness of the Western Sahara and Morocco’s normalization of its relations with Israel, a key ally of Washington, as a "transaction".
The announcement of the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara by the United States last Thursday is provoking strong reactions. The declaration is condemned by the Polisario Front, which maintains that this decision is contrary to the position of the international community.
Thursday, December 10 is a historic day for Morocco , which not only restored its relations with Israel but also saw the United States officially recognize its sovereignty over Western Sahara. Here is the decree promulgated the same day by President Donald Trump:
The Algerian regime "takes the Tindouf hostages hostage for a fallacious political choice," fumes the former Tunisian president, Moncef Marzouki. He rather considers it realistic to see them join Morocco, the motherland, instead of nurturing illusions.
Mohamed Ouled Lamine, former diplomat, former advisor to the Mauritanian president and former Minister of Information is clear: supporting the creation of a sixth state in the Maghreb region will be a historical sin.
The latest developments in the El Guerguerate area, with the intervention of the FAR, were on the agenda of the telephone exchange that Serguei Lavrov, the head of Russian diplomacy, and Boukadoum, his Algerian counterpart, had last Friday. The announcement was made by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through a press release.
The arrival in the ranks of Daesh of Sahrawis from the Lahmada camps is becoming very worrying, warns the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
While all political parties and institutions in Morocco have publicly announced their support for the military operation conducted by the Royal Armed Forces in Guerguerat, the Annahj Adimocrati (The Diplomatic Path) party expresses several reservations.