President Emmanuel Macron of France has stated in a letter that the only viable solution to the long-standing territorial conflict is a plan for autonomy for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan authority.

The 1975 conflict opposed the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which wanted to establish an independent state in Western Sahara, against Morocco, which views the region as its own.

As the former colonial power in the area, France has handled the situation diplomatically by balancing between Rabat and Algiers. Morocco’s initiative has the support of the majority of France’s Western friends.

Algeria was so incensed by the decision that it chose to remove its ambassador from France and assign the charge d’affaires to oversee Algeria’s diplomatic representation, as stated in a statement from the country’s foreign ministry.

“For France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework within which this issue must be resolved,” according to the letter sent by Macron to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.

“Our support for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007 is clear and constant. For France, it now constitutes the only basis for achieving a just, lasting and negotiated political solution in line with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”

Macron declared that France would behave both internally and internationally under its conviction that Morocco’s sovereignty extends to the Western Sahara.

Regarding the declaration, the Moroccan Royal Palace welcomed it as a “significant development in support of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.”

“The French government is denying the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination,” the foreign ministry of Algeria declared.

The recall of Algeria’s envoy, according to a French diplomatic source, was a sovereign decision, but Paris was committed to strengthening bilateral relations with Algiers.

“We are looking to the future with a strong ambition to benefit both our peoples,” stated a source.

Algeria has supported a 1991 United Nations plan for a referendum with independence as a possible outcome, as well as the Polisario’s self-declared Sahrawi republic.

Conflicts about who should vote and how the referendum should be held prevented that referendum from happening, and more recently, resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council have urged the parties to cooperate to reach a workable compromise rather than bring up the subject of a referendum.

The former colonial power of Western Sahara, Spain, declared in 2022 that it supported Morocco’s desire for autonomy.

Rabat regards the opening of consulates by 28 largely African and Arab nations as tangible support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the region, which is also backed by the United States, Israel, and the monarchies of the Arab world. 2020 saw the Polisario pull out of a truce mediated by the UN.

Israel recognized and supported Morocco’s claim to the Sahara two weeks ago, despite Algeria, Morocco’s neighbour, who opposes and calls the region’s claims an international infringement. In 2020, the United States, then led by President Donald Trump, acknowledged Morocco’s territorial claims in exchange for Morocco reestablishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

In all, 28 foreign countries—mostly Arab and African ones—have opened consulates there as an outward symbol of their backing for Rabat.