Algeria’s outburst over UK’s Sahara stance exposes its role as genuine party to the conflict

Algeria’s vehement reaction to the United Kingdom’s support for Morocco’s autonomy plan in Western Sahara has done more than express diplomatic discontent. It laid bare Algiers’ transformation from a behind-the-scenes sponsor and host of the Polisario militias to the undisguised principal actor in the decades-old territorial dispute.

In a statement laced with indignation,Algeria’s foreign ministry condemned the UK’s endorsement of Morocco’s 2007 autonomy initiative,calling it a “dangerous deviation” from international law. But in doing so,Algeria has inadvertently confirmed what Rabat has long asserted: that the real party to the conflict is not the Polisario Front,but Algeria itself.

For years,Algeria has cloaked its involvement in the Western Sahara issue under the guise of defending the right to self-determination. Yet under President Abdelmadjid Tebboune,the masque has fallen. Algiers has moved from diplomatic ambiguity to open hostility,lobbying international actors,attacking Morocco’s proposals,and now,directly challenging sovereign decisions of third-party states like the UK and France and previously Spain.

It has however lowered its tone with the US,which was the first global power to fully recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.

Algeria’s shift to take center stage on the Sahara issue is not merely rhetorical. Algeria’s aggressive posture,recalling ambassadors,issuing condemnations,and orchestrating media campaigns,has effectively sidelined the Polisario separatists,reducing them to their real status of a symbolic proxy in a geopolitical contest driven by Algiers.

The Polisario’s voice is now barely audible amid Algeria’s thunderous declarations.

Morocco’s autonomy plan,which offers substantial self-governance under Moroccan sovereignty,has gained traction globally,with support from the United States,Germany,Spain,France,and now the UK,while the majority of African and all Arab monarchies recognize Rabat’s sovereignty over its southern provinces. Algeria’s reaction to this growing consensus has been to double down on maximalist positions,refusing to engage with the plan while rehashing ideological anachronism.

By rejecting the autonomy initiative outright,Algeria has exposed its true objective: not a negotiated solution,but the perpetuation of a frozen conflict that serves its failed goal of containing and undermining Morocco economically and politically.

In this light,Algeria’s latest outburst at the UK is a geopolitical maneuver. And in making itself the loudest voice in the room,Algeria has confirmed what it has long denied: that it is the architect and engine of the Sahara conflict.