Argelia llama a consultas a su embajador en Madrid

Algiers has reacted to Spain's recent decision to consider Morocco's autonomy plan for the Sahara as the "most serious, realistic and credible" basis for resolving the conflict in the region. This step allows Madrid to improve its relations with Rabat, with whom it distanced itself last April after the entry into Spain of Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front.

The Algerian government has decided to call its ambassador in Madrid to consult the decision of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, "immediately", according to a statement from the Algerian foreign ministry.

The note, published by the state news agency APS, also stresses that Algerian diplomacy is "very surprised" by "this sudden change of position by the former administering power of Western Sahara".

During a press conference at which this political turnaround took centre stage, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, did not clarify whether he had informed Algeria of this decision. However, official sources confirm to Atalayar that the Algerian government was informed beforehand. For Spain, "Algeria is a strategic, priority and reliable partner with which it intends to maintain a privileged relationship".

Algeria is Spain's main gas supplier, so a reprisal in this respect could have drastic consequences, especially given the current energy crisis in Europe. Even so, Albares described Algeria as "a reliable partner".

Prior to the Algerian Foreign Ministry's statement, the Algerian media, TSA, quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Madrid's decision was "the second historic betrayal" by Spain of the Saharawi people. The first "betrayal" for Algeria was the agreement of 14 November 1975 in which Spain ceded the former colony to Morocco and Mauritania without consulting the Polisario Front, which started a war against both countries.

However, years later, in 1984, Mauritania officially recognised the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) proclaimed by the Polisario in 1976, while the conflict between Rabat and the Sahrawi self-determination movement continues.

For this reason, Algeria, the Polisario Front's main political ally, has a key role to play in Spain's political turnaround. "Morocco has finally got what it wanted from Spain", the diplomatic source told TSA.

So far, these have been Algeria's reactions to Madrid's decision. However, the journalist Francisco Peregil, of the newspaper EL PAÍS, points out that the most likely official reaction from the Algerian government will come this Sunday, according to journalistic sources in the country.