The Council of the Nation, chaired by Salah Goudjil, has condemned the French government’s decision regarding the just cause of Western Sahara, deeming it a “dangerous deviation and an uncertain gamble.”
In a statement, the Council of the Nation expressed “deep concern and strong condemnation and denunciation of the French government’s decision,” considering it a misjudgment and a failure of management, and describing it as a “moral assassination of UN efforts to decolonize this issue.”
The statement also emphasized that this stance represents a blatant deviation by France from UN resolutions and advisory opinions of its bodies, amounting to a clear endorsement and legitimization of occupation against a founding member state of the African Union.
Furthermore, the Council pointed out that this decision signifies an overreach by official France of its commitments as a permanent member of the Security Council and a breach of international legitimacy linked to the responsibility of the Security Council and its permanent members in implementing the 1991 agreement in line with UN resolutions and international law.
The statement affirmed that the French government’s recognition of the occupation of Western Sahara and its support for the Moroccan narrative “aims in vain to undermine the efforts of international and regional organizations to enable the Sahrawi people to exercise their legitimate right to self-determination.”
It added: “This is a desperate attempt by neo-colonialism to legitimize a rejected colonial mindset and a new expression of the entrenched colonial approach in French government policies, longing for a shameful colonial past, whose atrocities are still remembered by national and global memory, with its painful reflections still testifying to its crimes against humanity in Algeria, Africa, and the world.”
The statement continued, saying that Algeria, which fought against colonialism and rejected it in the past, “will continue to reject it in all its forms and sources. Just as it distinguished between the French people and the colonial French regime in the past, it does so today between the Moroccan people and the occupying Moroccan regime. Today, we witness the recurring return of colonial patterns, based on intersecting interests at the expense of values and principles of human civilization, relying on multi-dimensional alliances, as evident from the Franco-Moroccan-Zionist alliance against the legitimate rights of the Sahrawi people and the Palestinian people’s rights, satisfying a colonial exclusionary instinct.”
The statement also said, “The Council of the Nation confirms that the French government’s decision embodies the alliance of weakened colonial forces, past and present, supporting each other in a losing battle against historical inevitability. It is fitting for the French Parliament, which has often intervened in monitoring human rights in North African countries through European Parliament recommendations, to take a stand on this decision and focus its efforts on cleansing the French state of entrenched colonial tendencies, urging its government to review its calculations and correct its limited foresight on current international and regional situations, and to learn from the lessons of history.”
In conclusion, the Council of the Nation reiterated the firm positions of the new Algeria, established by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, regarding just causes, including the issue of Western Sahara. It also affirmed “its support for the Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination and independence, and their right to defend their homeland and resources by all legitimate means guaranteed by international law.”
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