ALGIERS: Algeria said on Tuesday it was willing to back mediation between Morocco and Western Sahara’s Polisario Front in their dispute over the territory to achieve a “just and lasting” solution.
Algiers, which broke off relations with Rabat in 2021, had long called for a referendum on the Sahrawi people’s self-determination, unilaterally backing the pro-independence Polisario.
Tuesday’s move comes after the United Nations Security Council on October 31 voted in favor of Morocco’s plan for the territory, which would provide Western Sahara autonomy under the kingdom’s sole sovereignty.
Western Sahara is a vast mineral-rich former Spanish colony that is largely controlled by Morocco but has been claimed for decades by the Polisario Front.
“Algeria will spare no effort to support any mediation initiative between the two parties to the conflict, provided it falls within the UN framework and is based... on the fundamentals of a just, lasting and definitive solution,” Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said at a press conference.
