Algiers, 2 August 2024 (SPS) - The Algerian minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ahmed Attaf, said Wednesday in Algiers that the response of the president of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to France's new position on western Sahara issue was "firm, resolute and precise," adding that the French move would not contribute to the revival of the diplomatic process, but would instead fuel the impasse into which the autonomy plan has plunged the Saharawi issue for more than 17 years.
In reply to journalists' questions, at a news conference on topical issues in relation to foreign policy, held at the ministry's headquarters, Attaf said the president of the Republic had been informed, beforehand, of the French move by his French counterpart who tried to justify the decision, at a meeting on June 13th in Bari, Italy, on the sidelines of the G7 meeting.
Attaf said the various data and arguments put forward by the French president to justify the change he was about to make didn't bring anything new, especially as it was a reproduction of a French position already expressed in 2007 at the presentation of the autonomy plan by the Kingdom of Morocco.
The move is likely to "help relaunch the political process for the settlement of Western Sahara conflict, according to the justifications of the French president who also said that France remained true to its commitment and obligations to support the efforts of the UN secretary general and his personal envoy."
Dubbing the reply of the president of the Republic "firm, resolute and precise," Attaf said the president of the Republic considered that "the new French position is no more than a reproduction of positions expressed previously, and even far exceeds them, as it considers the autonomy plan as the exclusive basis for the settlement of the conflict in Western Sahara, expressly recognizing the alleged 'Moroccanity of Western Sahara' and including clearly the present and future of Western Sahara in the alleged Moroccan sovereignty."