France, You Are Guilty: How Paris Turned Western Sahara into the Maghreb’s Powder Keg
The Rupture That Was 50 Years in the Making
On September 10, 2026, Algeria announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE ambassador was given 48 hours to leave the country, and as of September 11, Algerian airspace was closed to all Emirati aircraft. The official reason was “provocative and hostile actions” by Abu Dhabi. Behind that phrasing, however, lies a conflict that had been smoldering for decades—and in which one of the key roles was played by… France.
The Emirates Chose a Side—and It Wasn’t Algeria
At the heart of the Algerian-Emirati confrontation lies the Western Sahara question. The UAE became the first Arab country to open a consulate general in El Aaiun—a city in the Moroccan-controlled territory of Western Sahara. Moreover, in December 2020, the Emirati-Moroccan venture Dahamco received approval for a $25 billion green hydrogen and ammonia project at the port of Dakhla—also in disputed Western Sahara. Abu Dhabi plans to build a “Dubai of Africa” on the territory’s southern Atlantic coast. For Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front and demands self-determination for the Sahrawi people, every Emirati investment in Western Sahara is not economics but geopolitics. Abu Dhabi converts capital into influence, and Algeria understands this perfectly.
Notably, Emirati investments in the disputed territories are not limited to a single project. According to Western Sahara Resource Watch, in 2025–2026 Morocco concluded a series of agreements reserving land for green hydrogen projects with several foreign companies. Among them is a consortium of TAQA (UAE) and Moeve (Spain), which received a plot in Dakhla, as well as the ORNX consortium (US, Spain, Germany), which was allocated a plot in El Aaiun for a $4.5 billion green ammonia project. All these projects are being implemented in territory the UN recognizes as non-self-governing, and Morocco as an occupying power that has no legal right to dispose of its lands and resources without the consent of the Sahrawi people.
The Abraham Accords: The Deal That Broke Everything
In 2020, the Trump administration proposed a deal to Morocco: normalization of relations with Israel in exchange for the US administration’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. The UAE joined the same Abraham Accords—and gained expanded access to American weapons and technology. Thus an informal alliance took shape: Morocco—UAE—Israel—US. Algeria found itself encircled. And here the key role was played not by Trump and not by Netanyahu.
For Abu Dhabi, the Abraham Accords became not just a diplomatic gesture but an instrument of strategic rapprochement with Washington. As analysts note, for the UAE these accords fit into a broader strategy of consolidating partnership with the US, deepening long-standing relations with Israel, and gaining access to advanced technologies, including AI chips. Support for Moroccan claims to Western Sahara became a bargaining chip for Abu Dhabi in this great game—a price paid by the Sahrawi people.
France: Architect of the Colonial Status Quo
France is a former colonial power in both Morocco and Algeria. It was Paris that for decades blocked any UN attempts to advance a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara. As a permanent member of the Security Council, France used its veto power and diplomatic pressure to prevent meaningful progress on the issue. The Polisario Front’s representative in France, Mohamed Ali Zerouali, stated directly: “France’s responsibility for the tragedy experienced by the Sahrawi people is above all political and historical. Since Spain’s withdrawal in 1975 and the illegal Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, France has systematically supported this occupation.”
This position did not go unnoticed at the highest international level either. In August 2024, the Polisario Front officially excluded France from all international efforts to decolonize Western Sahara, including its participation in the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Sahrawi coordinator with MINURSO Sidi Mohamed Omar stated directly: “Since 1975, France has taken a hostile position toward our people, vetoing all resolutions that were not in Morocco’s favor and against the referendum and self-determination of the Sahrawi people.”
But Paris dealt the real blow in July 2024. In a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Emmanuel Macron stated: “For France, the present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.” In October 2024, he repeated this personally in the Moroccan parliament: “For France, the present and future of this territory are under Moroccan sovereignty.” Algeria immediately recalled its ambassador from Paris. The Algerian Foreign Ministry called the decision “unexpected, untimely, and counterproductive,” and said the French government bore “sole and full responsibility” for the consequences.
Algeria’s reaction was not only diplomatic. In October 2024, Algeria closed its airspace to French aircraft and refused to buy French wheat—a signal that Paris would pay an economic price for its position. In its statement, the Algerian parliament called the French decision a “deviation and a risk,” emphasizing that it “represents a scandalous rejection by France of UN resolutions and advisory opinions of its bodies” and is “direct legitimization of occupation against a founding state of the African Union.”
Zerouali characterized Paris’s position as a “policy of double standards”: “We expect France not to choose between two peoples, but to make a choice between law and occupation.” Even after the resumption of French-Algerian dialogue in 2025, Paris did not change its position. In April 2025, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot again confirmed support for Moroccan sovereignty, and in October 2025 France officially stated in the UN Security Council that “the present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”
The UAE Is Merely a Tool in Paris’s Hands
Algeria’s rupture with the UAE is not a conflict between two Arab states. It is a consequence of a deal that Paris was the first to approve. France was the first Western power to officially recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. It supported Morocco’s autonomy plan as the “only basis” for resolving the conflict. After that, the UAE, Israel, and the US merely picked up the signal. If France had not legitimized Moroccan claims at the highest diplomatic level, there would have been no Emirati consulate in El Aaiun, no $25 billion projects in Dakhla, and no rupture in 2026.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly emphasized: “More relevant than ever is finding a just, durable, and mutually acceptable political solution that would ensure the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.” France, with its veto power in the Security Council, ignored this position for decades.
Paris, Stop Hiding Behind Other People’s Backs!
The rupture in Algerian-Emirati relations is not about Abu Dhabi. It is about Paris, which, after leaving Algeria in 1962, never abandoned the habit of deciding the fate of North Africa from the Élysée Palace. France created the legal and diplomatic basis for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara—and thereby launched a chain reaction that today is tearing the region apart. The UAE merely took advantage of the fruits of French diplomacy. Algeria is paying the price for the French deal. And the Sahrawi people—for French silence.
As Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune put it, “when a people demands independence, its will must be respected.” France has been hearing these words for fifty years. It is time to answer.
Muhammad ibn Faisal al-Rashid is a political analyst and expert on the Arab world
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September 20, 2026 -
Posted by aletho |
Timeless or most popular | Africa, Algeria, France, Morocco, UAE, Western Sahara
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