France backs Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara; Algeria withdraws its ambassador in France
France recognises a plan for autonomy for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty as the "only way" of resolving a long-running dispute over the territory, President Emmanuel Macron has said in a letter on Tuesday.
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France has recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, shifting a decades-old position, while the United Nations-mediated peace process remains stalled.
"For France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework within which this issue must be resolved," according to the letter sent by Macron to Morocco's King Mohammed VI.
"Our support for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007 is clear and constant. For France, it now constitutes the only basis for achieving a just, lasting and negotiated political solution in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council."
According to a statement from the Moroccan Royal Cabinet, the French president sent this letter to Mohammed VI on the occasion of the Throne Day which marks the arrival in power of Mohammed VI, in 1999.
The Royal Palace in the statement welcomed the announcement and said it was a "significant development in support of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara."
Algeria said a few hours later that it has withdrawn its ambassador to France over Western Sahara rift.
"The Algerian diplomatic representation in France is now the responsibility of a charge d'affaires," the Algerian foreign ministry was quoted as saying by the official Algerian news agency APS.
The ministry denounced Macron's statement as a "step that no other French government had taken before."
