By Nosmot Gbadamosi/ Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief
Algeria began blocking deportations of its citizens from France this week in the latest escalation of tensions over Paris’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty in the disputed Western Sahara.
French President Emmanuel Macron sent Moroccan King Mohammed VI a letter backing a plan that Morocco proposed in 2007 to offer Western Sahara limited autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. In the letter—which was made public on July 30—Macron called it the “only basis” for resolving the conflict. “France intends to act consistently with this position at both national and international level,” he wrote.
Algeria is now refusing to take back citizens given deportation orders by France. Algiers had already recalled its ambassador to France at the end of July. The two nations had a similar immigration spat in 2021 that lasted well over a year, and a history before that of frequent tensions ever since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962.
Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975. It did so as Spain was preparing to withdraw from the territory. Morocco now controls around 80 percent of the region, which boasts substantial mineral deposits and rich Atlantic fishing grounds.
Neighboring Algeria backs Western Sahara’s Polisario Front, which has sought full independence since the 1970s and the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. Algeria hosts more than 100,000 Sahrawis living in refugee camps in its territory.
However, since former U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of its claims in December 2020, Morocco has become more aggressive with expansive construction projects in the disputed territory. Trump reportedly agreed that the United States would recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Rabat’s normalization of ties with Israel, which further fuelled hostilities. It also broke international consensus on a U.N.-supervised referendum on the conflict that had stalled for decades. Since then, Morocco has built ports, highways, and luxury hotels in the disputed territory.
In response, Polisario renewed armed conflict in 2020, ending a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that had been established in 1991. The Polisario’s Mohamed Sidati, the foreign minister of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic of Western Sahara, accused Paris of backing Moroccan expansionism as France’s influence deteriorates across Africa.
“Whatever hardships Morocco tries to impose on us with the support of France, the Sahrawi people will continue to stubbornly defend their rights until they obtain the definitive departure of the Moroccan aggressor from their territory and general recognition of the legitimacy of their struggle for self-determination and independence,” Sidati said in a statement last month.
Spain backed Morocco’s claim in 2022. But France’s move has been described as a game-changer that other nations may follow, given Paris’s role as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. The decision will to some extent appease a Moroccan population pressuring the government due to citizens’ anger about Israel’s war in Gaza.
France’s move may be related to trade. Morocco offered French companies access to renewable energy projects—in particular, green hydrogen. The country is also rich in minerals critical to the energy transition, such as phosphate, cobalt, and manganese. Some political observers view the change in position as necessary to secure French access to phosphate investments and a $1.2 billion port in Dakhla, Western Sahara, which is expected to boost trade.
It’s unknown whether Algeria would sacrifice its own trade deals to show its anger. The country has become the European Union’s third-largest gas supplier since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prior to the latest spat, France had sought to increase its supply of Algerian gas, which currently accounts for less than 10 percent of its gas usage.
