UN Security Council deals a blow to Algeria on Western Sahara

RABAT – The United Nations Security Council dealt Thursday a blow to Algeria’s discontent about the opening of consulates by several African states in the disputed Western Sahara territory, according to diplomatic sources with the UN.

The Security Council considered that the consulates were acts of sovereignty in accordance with international law and strictly within the framework of bilateral relations between Morocco and its African partners, said the sources.

Algeria was the only state among the 193 states to have reacted to the opening of the Consulate General of the Union of the Comoros in Laayoune, with an aggressive press release and to the opening of the Consulate General of Ivory Coast in the same city.

Algiers recalled its Ambassador to Abidjan following Ivory Coast’s move.

In addition to the ten African countries that have opened Consulates General in the Moroccan Sahara, countries in other regions of the world announced plans to open consular posts in Western Sahara soon.

Algeria’s discontent is the latest sign of its involvement in the Western Sahara issue despite its repeated denial.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 and maintains it is an inte­gral part of the kingdom. Algerian-backed Polisario Front separatists began an armed conflict with Mo­rocco for an independent state that lasted until the United Nations bro­kered a ceasefire in 1991.

Rabat has proposed a form of autonomy under Moroccan sover­eignty for the territory. The proposal was rejected by the Polisario Front, which insists on the right of the Sah­rawi people to self-determination in a UN-monitored vote.