Western Sahara

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/rest-of-africa/algeria-morocco-spar-over-western-sahara-a…

Renewed negotiations to reach a settlement on the disputed territory of Western Sahara could be within grasp after painstaking diplomatic spadework. But progress toward resolving the controversy over the area will prove hard to achieve without stronger U.S. backing.

With Israel recognizing Western Sahara as part of the Moroccan kingdom and a contentious fishing agreement between Morocco and the EU expiring, tensions are intensifying between the Polisario Front, Morocco and Algeria.

Israel announced Monday it was recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, joining the United States as the only countries to acknowledge the kingdom's annexation of the disputed north African territory.

The Moroccan government says it is strengthening ties with African countries that have a “clear position” on the Sahrawi issue, raising the ante of soft power by Rabat to endorse its autonomy plan.

[…] After a 29-year ceasefire, fighting re-erupted in November 2020 as the Polisario Front – a political-military movement that claims representation of the Sahrawi people – resumed its struggle to eject Morocco from the 80% of Western Sahara they control, and which Rabat claims as its own. … While the Polisario Front has reported heavy fighting in recent weeks, Morocco refuses to acknowledge the war in what it refers to as its “southern provinces”.

The row opens a new front in a series of disputes over Western Sahara that has already dragged in Spain and Germany.

(The) king says he wants to re-establish normal relations with Algeria, which cut off ties last August over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Algeria said Wednesday it was suspending a decades-old co-operation treaty with Spain, after Madrid backed the position of the North African country's arch-rival Morocco on the disputed Western Sahara.

Morocco is seeking backing for a proposal it tabled in 2007 that would offer limited autonomy via a devolved government in Western Sahara, with tax raising and budgetary powers, though with foreign relations, security and defence remaining in the hands of Rabat.