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Rabat – Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune used part of his Thursday speech to reiterate his country’s hostile position against Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The Algerian president claimed that the Western Sahara question is a matter of “decolonization.”
“The Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa and the Sahrawi people need to exercise their right to self-determination,” he said in his speech.
Moroccans and activists expressed anger against his claims. But the statements are not the first of their kind from the Algerian president and his officials, who spare no efforts to intervene in Morocco’s domestic affairs.
The Algerian government continues to vow support for the Polisario Front at the regional and international levels in an attempt to cover up its internal crises.
Algeria has long vowed its concerns come in support of Sahrawis in Tindouf, an area in its desert.
The region hosts thousands of Sahrawis who enjoy less than the minimum rights in the Tindouf refugee camps.
Former Polisario Front member Mustafa Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud recently condemned Algeria’s claims, saying that the country is the last one that should be speaking up about Sahrawis’ human rights.
He cited a lack of human rights that faces over 90,000 Sahrawis living in the region, including Algeria’s prohibition of their freedom of movement.
The activist accused the Algerian government of exploiting Sahrawis in Tindouf by recruiting them into the military.
He said that Sahrawis’ legal status has been suspended for decades, emphasizing their inability to obtain identification documents in Algeria.
“They are not refugees or are foreign immigrants with a residence card, nor are they citizens with [Algerian] nationality,” the activist decried.
Ignoring internal outcry
Through its maneuvers, Algeria continues to show how its obsession with Morocco’s domestic affairs dwarfs tackling its internal crises.
On February 16, thousands of Algerians rallied in the streets to celebrate the second anniversary of the Hirak movement.
The protests’ renewal sought to remind Algeria that appointing a new president did not help overcome the challenges the country has suffered, including the economic crisis.
Emboldened citizens carried Algerian flags and chanted slogans that caused the collapse of Bouteflika’s era in 2019.
The new wave of protesters ignored COVID-19 restrictions in order to voice their grievances, chanting that they want a “civilian state, not a military” one.
Socio-economic crisis in Algeria ignited the Hirak in February 2019.
Bouteflika sparked the movement after he announced his intention to run for a fifth consecutive term.
Despite the fall of Bouteflika’s regime, Algerians still voice their concerns over the economic crisis.
On Thursday night, Algerian President Tebboune undertook actions to calm protesters, dissolving the lower house of Parliament and calling for early legislative elections.
The Algerian head of state, however, did not announce the date of the elections.
He claimed the decision to dissolve the Parliamentarian body is part of his country’s reforms.
