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Rabat – As Morocco garners growing international support for its position on the Western Sahara dispute, the Algerian regime persists in its relentless Morocco-bashing campaign, with a singular focus: challenging Morocco’s territorial integrity.
The obsession of interfering in Morocco’s domestic affairs was evident in the Algerian Foreign Ministry’s and the regime-affiliated media’s attempt to manipulate a meeting between Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf and Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon in Ljubljana last Friday.
Following the meeting, Algerian media and officials sought to trap the Slovenian foreign minister by falsely claiming that the European country had “denied” Morocco’s “allegations” and instead reaffirmed alleged support for the Polisario Front’s self-determination claims.
In response to the widespread disinformation, Slovenia issued a press release clarifying its position.
Slovenia’s strong stance in favor of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan
In the statement, Slovenia emphasized that it supports the UN-led political process aimed at achieving a fair, sustainable and mutually acceptable compromise solution.
“They [the two ministers] also touched on the issue of Western Sahara, where Slovenia supports the UN-led process aimed at reaching a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution based on compromise,” the official statement from Slovenia reads.
This position references Slovenia’s earlier position, which affirms support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as a credible and serious political solution to end the dispute, further reinforcing alignment with the international consensus on the issue.
In June, Slovenia described Morocco’s autonomy initiative as a “good basis” for achieving a definitive and consensual solution to the Sahara dispute.
Foreign minister Fajon conveyed her country’s appreciation for the autonomy plan in a joint statement during his visit to Rabat in June of this year.
In the statement, the country also welcomed Morocco’s serious and credible efforts to reach a political, realistic, sustainable, and mutually acceptable political solution to end the regional dispute. The statement marked Slovenia as the 16th EU country to support Morocco’s Autonomy position.
The position is also part of an international dynamic that has witnessed more than a hundred UN member countries express their support for the Moroccan initiative.
In January, Bulgaria became the 15th EU member state to support the autonomy initiative.
The growing support for Morocco’s position is part of a broader, culminating wave of international endorsement, which also includes a recent recognition from France of Morocco’s full sovereignty over its southern provinces in the Western Sahara.
This expanding international support has increasingly isolated Algeria, prompting it to resort to manipulative tactics, aimed at challenging Morocco’s territorial integrity. These attempts are part of a larger wave of entrenched hostility towards Morocco.
Algeria’s cause wains as international support for Morocco increases
One of the latest actions reflecting Algeria’s regime longstanding strategy of undermining Morocco’s sovereignty was in July when French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his country’s new Sahara position.
Immediately following the official announcement, Algeria recalled its ambassador in Paris, claiming that France’s decision was “made with significant recklessness and disregard for the consequences.”
As Algeria continues to defend the Polisario Front’s self-determination claims, the international community has increasingly come to view this claim as outdated and no longer a viable option for resolution.
The consensus shared by the international community is that the Sahara dispute requires a pragmatic, realistic, and mutually acceptable political solution.
Many also describe self determination as a buried suggestion, acknowledging that it no longer aligns with the current geopolitical and diplomatic realities.
Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN Omar Hilale frequently outlines Algeria’s attempts and campaigns seeking to promote a referendum for the Sahara.
“The so-called referendum has been dead and buried fr over two decades, with no mention in recent Security Council resolutions,” Hilale said in June, noting that the only viable solution to the regional dispute is the Moroccan Autonomy Plan.
In this regard, Hilale stressed that the initiative has been recognized as a serious and credible solution by the Security Council since 2007.
