Spain very unexpectedly announced on Friday, March 18 its support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for the settlement of the conflict in Western Sahara.
This is a historical reversal of the former colonizing power of the Saharawi territories, which initially supported the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination before supporting the UN plan for the settlement of the conflict.
Logically, the decision was very badly received by Algiers who denounced a “second betrayal” for the Saharawi people, after the partition agreement of Western Sahara, signed in Madrid in 1975, a few months before the departure of the Spaniards in February 1976.
As a first measure, the Algerian ambassador to Spain was recalled to Algiers “for consultations”, with “immediate effect”. In diplomatic language, this clearly expresses the anger of Algiers. Some fear that the Algerian ambassador in Madrid may stay in Algiers for a long time before returning to his post. “He may not come back to it”, fears someone close to the file.
Algeria is not a party to the conflict and its position has always been to defend the right of Sahrawis to exercise their right to self-determination, in accordance with international legality, in particular, United Nations resolutions.
It is therefore in the order of things that she does not appreciate that a State which held the same position suddenly changes tack and aligns itself with Moroccan theses.
Moreover, when it comes to the former colonial power which has a historical responsibility in the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and a country with which relations have always been good.
When, in the fall of 2020, Donald Trump’s the United States went further by recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the occupied Saharawi territories, Algeria was not unduly surprised.
Donald Trump’s decision was not an unexpected event since it constituted a clause provided for in the triangular agreements also including the restoration of relations between Morocco and Israel.
In the case of the Spanish reversal, some analysts argue that the government of Pedro Sanchez has weakened in the face of pressure and migratory blackmail exerted by Morocco.
Historical relations and a solid partnership
If this is the reason for this abrupt change of position, it must be said that Spain gave in with disconcerting ease after incursions by migrants into its enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
This reveals the very little importance it gives to the Sahrawi question, in which it has a historical responsibility, and therefore to its relations with Algeria.
The reaction of the latter is understandable and its disappointment is commensurate with its historically good relations with Spain. The disappointment is all the greater since it is a socialist government that has taken the step that its predecessors of other persuasions have not dared to take for more than 45 years.
Spanish socialists always found refuge, aid, and assistance in Algeria, while they were persecuted in their country in the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s.
In the 1980s, Algeria sided with Spain, which faced separatist movements in the Basque Country and the Canary Islands. President Chadli Bendjedid had taken the decision to expel the representatives of these organizations while Spain was becoming irreparably democratized.
For decades, Algeria has been a reliable gas supplier to Spain. Thanks to deliveries from Algeria through the Maghreb-Europe (GME) and Medgaz gas pipelines, Spain has become an important transit country for this energy with several regasification plants.
Today, it has the necessary capacities to become a gas hub to supply a good part of Europe which is seeking to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.
Even when Algeria decided to close the GME in reaction to hostile acts by Morocco, Spain was reassured at the highest level about the continuity of its supply. And that is what was done, allowing Spain to be in a more comfortable position compared to other countries in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Added to this are the many contracts obtained by Spanish groups in the construction industry in Algeria during the 2000s. “Spain has shown itself with regard to Algeria, notes our source. With what she has done on Western Sahara, she has excluded herself from this dossier”.
Suddenly turning your back on a historically and geographically close and economically reliable neighbor is an act that is difficult to understand.
