Algeria denounced, Saturday, December 12, "foreign maneuvers" aimed at destabilizing it and pointed the finger at Israel, after the United States recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, in return for normalization of relations of Morocco with the Hebrew State.

"There are foreign maneuvers which aim to destabilize Algeria. There is now a will of the 'Zionist entity' (editor's note: Israel) to come closer to our borders", accused the Algerian Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Djerad , in his country's first reaction to the US decision.

The surprise announcement Thursday by outgoing President Donald Trump to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed former Spanish colony, in exchange for Rabat's commitment to normalize its relations with Israel, was immediately rejected by the separatists of the Polisario Front. supported by Algeria.

A decision "without legal effect"

"The conflict in Western Sahara is a question of decolonization which can only be resolved through the application of international law", reaffirmed Saturday, in a statement, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressing that the American decision was " without legal effect ".

The Polisario says it is "in a state of war of self-defense" since Morocco sent troops to the far south of the territory on November 13 to drive out a group of Sahrawi separatist militants who blocked the only road to Mauritania.

This road was built in violation of the 1991 ceasefire agreement signed under the aegis of the UN after 15 years of fighting, according to the Polisario which did not exclude "the extension of the battles to Moroccan territory ".

The question of the status of Western Sahara, still considered a "non-autonomous territory" by the UN in the absence of a final settlement, has for decades opposed Morocco to the Saharawi separatists.

"The Israeli army is at our borders"

The Polisario is calling for a self-determination referendum, planned by the UN, while Morocco, which controls more than two thirds of this vast desert territory, is proposing an autonomy plan under its sovereignty.

Negotiations led by the UN and involving Morocco and the Polisario with Algeria and Mauritania as observers have been suspended since March 2019.   

"The rapprochement between Morocco and Israel opens the way, if not already done, to Israeli aid for the benefit of the Moroccan army in many areas, some of which are particularly dangerous: electronic surveillance, sky surveillance, drones, espionage, manipulation of the Internet, "said Algerian journalist and analyst Abed Charef.

"It is now obvious that the Israeli army is at our borders," he observes.

> To

 read also: Western Sahara: 45 years of conflicts and negotiations "at a standstill"

Since its independence, Algeria has taken up the cause for "the right of peoples to self-determination", in particular that of the Sahrawis and Palestinians, of which it is one of the most vocal supporters.

With AFP

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