Algeria Imposes Trade Curbs on France Over Sahara Recognition

By Al Mayadeen English

8 Nov 2024 18:30

Algeria had already banned French enterprises from a wheat import tender last month, asking bidders not to include wheat of French provenance.

The Algerian Association of Banks and Financial Institutions, a governmental institution that functions on behalf of the government to supervise commerce, assembled local banks on Monday to communicate a new order banning all import and export transactions with France in reaction to its acknowledgment of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.

Western Sahara is primarily controlled by Morocco, but the Polisario Front has been advocating for the territory's independence since before Spain, its colonial ruler, withdrew in 1975. The United Nations classifies it as a "non-autonomous territory."

Rabat, which governs around 80% of the territory, supports a plan for limited autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. In contrast, the Polisario Front is demanding a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination, a process that was intended to be established following the ceasefire in 1991 but has yet to be implemented.

The Algerian command was reportedly communicated verbally by an organization without the official power to enforce such a substantial action, and no written statement has been issued. Algeria-France commerce fell somewhat in the first half of 2024, following three years of stable expansion. 

A description of the meeting's proceedings has been widely distributed but remains unsigned. If Algerian authorities ratify this instruction, commercial contacts between France and Algeria would be virtually suspended.

Algeria had already banned French enterprises from a wheat import tender last month, asking bidders not to include wheat of French provenance. This is similar to a decision made by Algerian authorities in 2022, when they banned commerce with Spain following Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's support for Morocco's Sahara policy.

In July, France sparked a furious response from the pro-independence Polisario Front when it declared that autonomy within Morocco was the "only" foundation for resolving the long-standing Western Sahara conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Moroccan offer was "now the only basis that will lead to a just, lasting and negotiated political solution in line with UN Security Council resolutions" in a letter congratulating King Mohammed VI on the 25th anniversary of his coronation.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry slammed Macron's statement as a "step that no other French government had taken before."

Last month, AFP reported that the United Nations envoy to Western Sahara suggested splitting the territory between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front as a means to address the long-standing conflict. 

"I have discreetly revisited and expanded with all concerned on the concept of a partition of the Territory," Staffan de Mistura said during a closed session of the UN Security Council.

De Mistura, a 77-year-old Italian-Swedish diplomat, has served as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' envoy for Western Sahara for the past three years.

The diplomat told the Security Council, "Such an option could allow for the creation on the one hand of an independent state in the southern part, and on the other hand the integration of the rest of the Territory as part of Morocco, with its sovereignty over it internationally recognized," according to the remarks. 

Some background 

It is worth noting that the Trump administration, in late 2020, in exchange for normalization with "Israel", recognized Morocco's "sovereignty" over Western Sahara.

Spain declared its support for the Moroccan autonomy plan in 2022, after decades of trying to maintain a neutral stance between Morocco and the Polisario.

The Western Sahara conflict began in 1975, when Spain withdrew from the territory, leaving it disputed between Morocco and the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi nationalist movement that seeks independence for the region.

Morocco controls about 80% of Western Sahara, which it considers its own "sovereign territory". The region is rich in phosphates and fisheries.

The Polisario Front continues to call for a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara, as agreed in the 1991 ceasefire agreement, but this has not yet happened.

After nearly 30 years, the ceasefire in Western Sahara broke down in November 2020. Morocco sent troops to the far south of the territory to disperse Sahrawi protesters who were blocking the only road to Mauritania and the rest of Africa. The Polisario Front claims that the road was built after 1991, in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

In the last four years, the Sahrawi people have reported frequent clashes with Moroccan forces. They have often claimed to have inflicted casualties on the Moroccan side, but these claims have never been confirmed by Morocco.