France Accepts Moroccan Rule of Western Sahara, Angering Algeria
People walk in a market street in the Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara's main city of Laayoune.
Photographer: Fadek Senna/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
France recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, a historic shift that may spur more investment in the disputed mineral-rich territory but inflamed tensions with neighboring Algeria.
France “considers that the present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty,” the state-run MAP news agency reported Tuesday, citing a letter from President Emmanuel Macron to Moroccan King Mohammed VI that was also seen by Bloomberg.