Algeria parliament suspends ties with French Senate

The Algerian Council of the Nation announced yesterday the immediate suspension of its relations with the French Senate following a visit by its President, Gerard Larcher, to the Western Sahara region, Anadolu reported, citing a statement by the council.

The Council of the Nation, which constitutes the upper chamber of Algeria’s parliament, said it decided to suspend all ties with the French Senate, the upper chamber of France’s parliament, including the parliamentary cooperation protocol signed between the two chambers on 8 September 2015.

The council explained that the decision was made due to “the visit of the President of the French Senate, Gerard Larcher, to Laayoune,” the main city in the disputed Western Sahara region.

During the visit, Larcher said: “The present and future of the [Western] Sahara can only be envisaged within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”

France’s position on the issue is a strategic choice adopted by the entire French state, he explained. He also announced France’s intention to strengthen its consular presence in the southern provinces, in a move that reflects the will to enhance its relations with Morocco on deeper and more sustainable foundations.

Morocco has been in conflict with the Polisario Front over the Western Sahara since 1975, after the Spanish occupation ended. It turned into an armed confrontation that lasted until 1991 and ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement.

The 1991 ceasefire came to an end in 2021 after Morocco resumed military operations in the El Guergarat crossing, a buffer zone between the territory claimed by the state of Morocco and the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which the Polisario said was a provocation.

The issue of Western Sahara has caused growing tensions between Morocco and Algeria, with the latter being accused of supporting the Front’s separatist ambitions.

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