Algeria announced that it had recalled its ambassador to Madrid to protest the sudden change in position of Spain, which had announced its support for Morocco’s proposal to grant autonomy to the Western Sahara instead of holding a referendum.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was surprised by the sudden change in the Spanish government’s position on the Western Sahara issue and therefore decided to recall its ambassador for consultation immediately.
Spain on Friday for the first time publicly supported the West’s position on the Western Sahara, while Spain had previously taken a neutral stance on the issue.
The Western Sahara is a region in northwestern Africa and southern Morocco controlled by the Polisario Liberation Front and the Kingdom of Morocco.
The inhabitants of the area are generally of Arab descent. When Spain left the Western Sahara, the country had a population of 750,000 but is now less than 300,000. A large part of the population migrated to neighboring countries during the years of the Polisario War.
Since 1976, the Polisario Front has established a state called the Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahara in the former Spanish colony. Currently, the Sahara Republic controls only 20 to 25 percent of its claimed territories. Part of the territory claimed by this government is claimed and controlled by the Maghreb, and this government calls it the southern province.
The United Nations has been mandated since 1991 to hold a referendum in the region to determine the main demands of the people of the region for independence or to remain under Moroccan rule, but the referendum has not been held due to various sabotages.
