Algiers, 24 April 2022 (SPS) - President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune affirmed Saturday that Madrid’s change of position on the issue of Western Sahara is “ethically and historically” unacceptable, pointing out that Algeria and Spain will restore their relations only if the international law is implemented.
“Spain shouldn’t forget that its responsibility still exists in Western Sahara, because of its administering power status of the territory in the eyes of the international law, as long as no solution, regardless of its nature, has been reached for the issue of Western Sahara, a responsibility that Madrid seems to ignore,” President Tebboune said his meeting with the representatives of the national media.
Spain doesn’t have the right to “offer a colonized country to another country,” stressed President Tebboune, pointing out that Algeria “has good relations with Spain.” However, he said, the position expressed recently by the head of government Pedro Sanchez on the Sahrawi issue “has changed everything,” because of which Algeria had summoned its ambassador to Madrid.
“The Spanish Government didn’t listen to the opinions of the others concerning the Sahrawi issue, despite the fact that they were expressed at the Parliament or by the Spanish public opinion. We will not interfere in Spain’s domestic affairs, but Algeria, as an observer country in the file of Western Sahara, as well as the United Nations, considers that Spain is the administering power of the territory as long as no solution has been reached,” said President Tebboune.
“We must distinguish between the Spanish Government and the Spanish State with which we have very strong ties. We demand the implementation of the international law for the return to normal in our relations with Spain,” he added.
He said that Spain shouldn’t forget its historical responsibility, affirming that Algeria “will not give up Western Sahara and Palestine, as they are two decolonization issues.”
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