Algeria insists on denying the Government: no one warned that Sánchez was going to endorse the Moroccan plan for the former colony
Algeria’s decision to withdraw its ambassador from Madrid has not caused, far from it, an earthquake in Moncloa or abroad. In the Government they recognize that they did not know what the “exact reaction” of the Algiers Executive was going to be to Pedro Sánchez’s determination to recognize de facto Rabat’s authority over Western Sahara, but they did have a “strong response” of the Government of Abdelmayid Tebune. “Everything is in the script,” diplomatic sources familiar with the details of the 180-degree turn that Pedro Sánchez has given to the Spanish position on his former colony pointed out this Sunday.
No surprise either – they point out from the environment of the Spanish Foreign Ministry – in the denial of the Algerian diplomacy to the Spanish Government this Sunday, insisting that Madrid did not notify Algiers by any means that on Friday the Sánchez Executive was going to bless the plan Moroccan autonomy for the Sahara. “This is obviously a lie wrapped in an intentional ambiguity to try to calm the legitimate concerns raised by the Spanish political class,” assured this Sunday the Algerian diplomatic sources consulted by the national news portal Tout sur L’Algerie (TSA), who insisted that “at no time and at no level were the Algerian authorities informed of this vile bargain concluded with the Moroccan occupying power behind the back of the Saharawi people.”
Harsh words that are not going to be answered by the Spanish Government, which is now going to focus on appeasing Algeria to carry out Sánchez’s risky bet, according to those responsible for the Executive, which goes through turning Spain into the entry hub of everything African gas to Europe from Morocco.
According to senior officials of the Santa Cruz Palace, “everything is measured” and “blood will not reach the river” with Algeria, which is still considered a “faithful partner” and who was aware of this maneuver at all times. “was not ignorant” Abdelmayid Tebune. Sánchez himself spoke with the Algerian president on March 6, shortly after Spain acceded to Morocco’s request to help guarantee its energy security through the regasification in Spain of Liquefied Natural Gas despite the fact that Algeria refuses a single liter of the gas it sends to Europe could end up in the hands of its rival.
That Sánchez plan, which began to elaborate the “closest environment of the president” at the end of last summer, passes, in addition to calming the waters with Algiers, by getting that country and Morocco to sign a “truce”. A rapprochement operation -reveal senior officials of the Executive- in which Spain has been working for weeks after Algiers closed the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline (GME) in November, which pumped gas to the Iberian Peninsula through Morocco, after Algeria break diplomatic relations with Rabat in August 2021.
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