The unfounded and contradictory statements by President Tebboune

The statements made by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune often surprise Algerians themselves, as they contain unfounded assertions and unfortunate expressions that are out of place. Attitudes and behaviour that do not correspond to those of high-ranking officials and leaders such as a head of state.

A very illustrative example is that of 23 April, when the Algerian president launched a harsh criticism of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whom he accused of failing to comply with international law by accepting the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco, describing the Spanish government's sovereign decision as 'ethically and historically inadmissible'. In addition to offering moral lessons and lessons in international law, Tebboune also took the liberty of telling a sovereign state what it should and should not do.

"Spain must not forget that its responsibility remains in Western Sahara, as the administering power of the territory, according to international law, as long as a solution, of whatever nature, has not been found to the question. A responsibility that Madrid seems to ignore", he declared. He added that "Algeria, as an observer country in the Western Sahara dossier, like the United Nations, considers Spain to be the administering power of the territory until a solution to the conflict has been found".

In these statements, the absence of more diplomatic forms, manners and expressions is obvious. But the worst thing is that they are still fallacious, unsubstantiated and contradictory statements.

Indeed, back in 1976, the Spanish government explained to the Algerian government the legal aspects on which the decolonisation of the Sahara was based, as well as the end of its responsibilities in the territory as an administering power. The current Algerian president should have been aware of this explanation and taken it into account. This was in a note verbale dated 21 February 1976, in which he replied to another Algerian note dated 12 February, concerning the Algerian government's position on the question of Western Sahara. Spain provided sufficient clarification in the aforementioned note. The newspaper ABC published at the time a summary under the headline 'In note verbale to Algeria: Spain reiterates its decision to leave the Sahara on 28 February'.

Today I am republishing the content with more details than in ABC and with appropriate comments given the current circumstances and the Algerian president's statements.

The note recalled, first of all, that within the framework of the decolonisation of the territory of the Sahara, Spain announced in 1974 that it would proceed to hold a referendum in the first half of 1975. However, by Resolution 3292 (XXIX) dated 13 December 1974, the UN General Assembly asked Spain to suspend the holding of the referendum, requesting a ruling from the International Court of Justice, and that the countries bordering the territory, including Algeria, had supported this resolution and thus the postponement of the referendum. Secondly, that, coinciding with the UN visiting mission to the territory, there were a series of incidents induced or tolerated from outside - alluding to Algeria - "which created a state of violence and disrupted the decolonisation process".

The note therefore reminds Algeria that on 23 May 1975 the Spanish Government informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations that, in view of the situation that was developing in the territory, it was determined to put an end to the Spanish presence in the territory and to its action as an administering power, and that 'no competent organ of the United Nations criticised or invalidated the interpretation that Spain, as an administering power, then made of its obligations to behave'. In other words, Algeria did not object to this decision at that time either, and it was a decision taken six months before the Madrid agreements and the Green March.

Five months later, on 16 October 1975, recalls the note verbale, the International Court of Justice delivered the opinion requested by the General Assembly, which "in paragraph 162 of the opinion recognised the existence of links between the territory of the Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco". Moreover, the opinion held that the right to self-determination of the indigenous population of the Sahara left a certain discretion as to the forms and procedures by which that right is to be exercised (paragraph 71). Accordingly, the General Assembly resolutions on the question of the Sahara recognised a certain 'locus standi' for the governments and parties concerned, and the opinion of the International Court of Justice also recognised this, the note continued.

In its sixth point, the note referred to the opinion of the International Court of Justice as "an important position with regard to the legal problems raised. This is because, if on the one hand in the case of Western Sahara it affirms the primacy of the principle of self-determination of peoples over that of territorial integrity of States, on the other hand the Court recognises the existence of legal links between this territory and the Kingdom of Morocco" and consequently, according to the note verbale, "while expressly stating that this cannot prevent the application of resolution 1514 to the process of decolonisation of the Sahara, it accepts the relevance of these links as regards the forms and procedure for the realisation and implementation of the right of self-determination". He recalled in this respect the statement of Judge Nagendra Singh, who held that "the strength and effectiveness of the historical legal ties, though limited, must be taken into account as capable of giving an indication as to the options which, in the framework of resolutions 1514 (XV) and 2625 (XXV), could be offered to the indigenous population of the territory".

It stressed that, in view of the situation of danger to peace, and in accordance with resolutions 377, 379 and 380 adopted by the Security Council, talks were held in the context of Article 33 of the United Nations Charter and the Madrid Declaration of 14 November 1975 was adopted.

The note reminds Algeria that the signatories to the Madrid Declaration informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations of its contents, in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter and General Assembly resolution 97(I), which is a prerequisite for the validity of international agreements, and that it was registered with the United Nations Secretariat on 9 December 1975. Five days later, the General Assembly, by its resolution 3458 B (XXX) of 10 December 1975, took note of the Madrid agreement of 14 November. "Therefore, no competent organ of the United Nations has legally invalidated Spain's decision to terminate its presence in the territory before 28 February 1976".

All these aspects of international legality and international law were communicated and explained in the Spanish note to the Algerian government in 1976. Today, 46 years later, because of its pertinent legal arguments, I recall once again the inopportune and erroneous declarations of the Algerian president.

Reference can also be made more recently to the same United Nations documentation, to the same reports of the UN Secretary-General addressed to the Security Council in which he refers to Morocco as the administering power and not to Spain. Among these reports, it is worth mentioning, by way of example, report 398/2001 (paragraph 19) and report 613/2001 (paragraph 42), which the Security Council approved without the opposition of any state.

In view of the above, the Algerian President's unfortunate statements are not only erroneous and unfounded, but also, to cap it all, contradictory to the statement of the Government of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria itself, over which Tebboune presides. It is monumentally ridiculous for the Algerian president to claim that Spain is "an administering power of the territory according to international law", while the Algerian Foreign Ministry had described Spain as a former administering power.

Indeed, a few days before Tebboune's declarations, the Algerian official communiqué had stated: "the Algerian authorities, surprised by the abrupt change in the position of the former administrative power of Western Sahara, have decided to immediately recall their ambassador to Madrid for consultations".

Finally, it is not trivial to recall other statements by the Algerian president to his local press in which he complained about the low level of his ministers and saw the need for training courses. Unfortunately, Algeria's image has been badly damaged by its own president.