France recognizes 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 said in a letter on Tuesday.
In a letter to King Mohammed VI, France’s President Emmanuel Macron called the plan that Morocco proposed in 2007 to offer the region limited autonomy under its sovereignty that “only basis” to solve the conflict.
“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.”
“The present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty,” Macron wrote in a letter made public on Tuesday. “France intends to act consistently with this position at both national and international level.”
The dispute, dating back to 1975, pits Morocco, which says the Western Sahara is its territory, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which says it is an independent state.
The Polisario’s Mohamed Sidati accused France of acting at odds with international law and backing Moroccan expansionism as its influence wanes throughout Africa.
Morocco annexed the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975, sparking a conflict with the pro-independence Polisario Front, which the United Nations has long recognized as the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people.
The U.N. brokered a 1991 cease-fire and established a peacekeeping mission to monitor the truce and help prepare a referendum on the territory’s future. Disagreements over who is eligible to vote prevented the referendum from taking place.
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