ALGERIAN PATRIOTS - ENGLISH

France’s decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara is neither a mere diplomatic adjustment nor an act of pragmatic realism. It is a profound strategic miscalculation—one that reflects a flawed understanding of power dynamics in the Maghreb and a significant misreading of the Algerian state , its vital interests, and its stabilizing role in the region. In seeking what it perceived as a comfortable partnership with Rabat, Paris underestimated a fundamental reality: Western Sahara represents an absolute red line for Algeria , touching simultaneously upon its historical doctrine, its national security, and the regional balance of power in the face of Moroccan territorial ambitions . I. Western Sahara: Algeria’s Non‑Negotiable Vital Interest Contrary to the dominant European view, which reduces Western Sahara to a localized territorial dispute, Algeria regards it as an existential issue embedded in its post‑independence strategic doctrine. 1. A doctrinal constant root...

Since the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2797 , the Western Sahara file has entered a new phase—one marked less by legal progress than by an intensified battle of narratives. Morocco, supported by certain Western diplomatic circles, has sought to portray its autonomy plan as a definitive, irreversible solution endowed with international legitimacy. Yet a careful reading of the resolution, combined with a strict application of international law , reveals a far more sobering reality: the conflict remains legally unresolved, and Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara has never been established.   Official and unofficial accounts of the Madrid talks converge on a fundamental point often obscured by Moroccan discourse: the United States failed to impose the autonomy plan as the sole outcome of the negotiations. The Sahrawi side , backed by Algeria, maintained a firm and principled stance centered on the right to self-determination as the cornerstone of any ...

The consultations held in Madrid on the Western Sahara dossier—under direct U.S. stewardship—signal a qualitative shift in how the file is being managed: Washington is increasingly setting the pace while the United Nations recedes to an observer role, according to convergent coverage from Spanish, regional, and international outlets.  1) An unprecedented framework: Washington “leads,” the UN observes Multiple reputable outlets report that on February 8, 2026 , a closed‑door meeting took place inside the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, gathering four high‑level delegations—Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and the Polisario Front—with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura present more as an observer than as the driver, while U.S. officials Massad Boulos (special representative for Africa) and Michael Waltz (U.S. ambassador to the UN) ran point. The Madrid session followed a first, secret 48‑hour contact in Washington roughly two weeks earlier—an unmistakable sign that the U.S. has moved from “facilitator...

The recent article published by Hespress , portraying the so-called “precision strikes” of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces against the Polisario Front , reads less like strategic analysis than military communication masquerading as journalism. Beneath its technical vocabulary and self-congratulatory tone lies a carefully crafted narrative designed to normalize a political impasse, sanitize legally questionable practices, and equate technological superiority with legitimacy. Rewriting Responsibility The article opens with the familiar claim that Morocco is exercising “restraint and wisdom” in response to Polisario “low-intensity provocations.” This framing deliberately obscures a fundamental fact acknowledged in official UN reports : it was Morocco’s military intervention at Guerguerat in November 2020 that effectively ended the 1991 ceasefire . Since then, the conflict has not been “frozen” but has entered a phase of sustained low-intensity warfare , for which Rabat bears primary...

Ahmed Rissouni, former president of what is called “The International Union of Muslim Scholars” , returns once again to his favorite exercise: stoking discord, legitimizing confrontation, and distributing certificates of “national purity” according to the needs of the Moroccan palace. The man who once called for a “holy war” against Algeria and a “march on Tindouf” now appears under a new guise—but with an even more dangerous discourse, saturated with insinuations and falsehoods designed to inflame an entire region. In a lengthy article, he proclaims that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has been “definitively buried” by a decision of the UN Security Council—as if the United Nations had suddenly renounced the principle of self-determination. Rissouni forgets—or pretends to forget—that the UN has never recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, and that the conflict remains officially listed as a decolonization issue. This is not analysis; it is propaganda disguised as...

In its recent PolicyWatch, the Washington Institute presents the enticing prospect of a sixty-day “peace deal,” elevating the Western Sahara file as the sole key to regional de-escalation . Such a vision, while rhetorically appealing, reflects a shallow understanding of Maghrebi realities. It confuses rivalry with war — though Algiers and Rabat are not at war — and reduces a structural, decades-long antagonism that predates 1975 to a single issue: Western Sahara. Even the note itself concedes that bilateral relations are at a “historic low” without being warlike, which makes the sixty-day ultimatum more of a performative gesture than a viable diplomatic timetable. A State Rivalry Rooted in Memory, Borders, and Security From Algeria’s standpoint, the American “diplomatic clock” ignores the historical underpinnings of the dispute: the Sand War (1963–64), the colonial legacy of unclarified borders, successive cycles of tension and freeze — including the land border closure since 1994 — an...

  On November 4, 2025, Morocco announced the creation of a new national holiday, named “Unity Day” (عيد الوحدة), which will henceforth be celebrated every October 31. This day is intended to commemorate what Moroccan authorities describe as a “victory” in the Western Sahara issue. Yet this initiative raises many questions. Upon closer examination, no tangible event—whether military, diplomatic, or historical—objectively justifies the choice of this date. No decisive agreement has been signed, no new international recognition has been obtained, and no concrete progress on the ground appears to have marked this day in any significant way. It is precisely this absence of factual foundation that gives this decision both its meaning—and its controversy. By elevating October 31 to the status of a symbol of an unachieved triumph, the kingdom seems to wager on narrative over reality, on symbol over fact, on imagination over accomplishment. Thus, “Unity Day” appears less as the celebratio...

The adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2797 marks a new milestone in the diplomatic struggle over the Western Sahara issue. This resolution reaffirms a fundamental principle: there can be no solution outside the framework of international legality and the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination. While Rabat sought to portray the text as a “diplomatic victory” that consolidates its narrative, Algeria’s interpretation—articulated by Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf in his interview with Algeria International —places events in their proper context and sheds light on the underlying dynamics and power balances that shaped the decision. It is worth noting that this interview represents the first official statement by an Algerian official following the recent speech by the King of Morocco, in which he called for direct dialogue with the Algerian President. Strikingly, Minister Attaf made no mention of this overture, clearly reflecting the limited interest and credibility Algeria ac...

A seemingly technical decision, yet politically decisive On 31 October 2025, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2797, extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for one additional year, until October 2026. Although this may appear as a routine administrative renewal, it actually represents a critical diplomatic juncture—one that could reshape the geopolitical balance of the Maghreb and directly affect Algeria’s vital national interests. An ambiguous resolution: neither a rupture nor full continuity Adopted by 11 votes in favor and 3 abstentions (China, Russia, and Pakistan), Resolution 2797 extends the mandate of MINURSO to maintain the ceasefire and prepare the conditions for a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people. Contrary to some media narratives, the resolution does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. It reaffirms instead the principle of self-determination, the corner...