Algeria pushes for Arab League involvement in Sahara issue

In an interview with local media Saturday, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune addressed the Sahara issue. He reiterated that it is a «decolonization issue» and insisted on involving the Arab League in the regional dispute. «There is no Arab League resolution recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara», he argued.

For the record, King Hassan II recommended that this issue be kept off the agendas of Arab summits, arguing that the pan-Arab organization had enough problems to deal with without saddling it with another. For decades, Algeria respected this non-interference by the Arab League, until Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power in December 2019.

«The next Arab summit (which Algeria hosted in November 2022) will be a summit of inter-Arab solidarity and support for the Palestinian cause and the Saharawi people», declared former Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra in November 2021. An announcement that was not endorsed by the bloc’s influential states. The proposal was rejected.

Only three Arab countries currently recognize the «SADR»: Algeria, Mauritania, and Syria.