RABAT, July 30, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - France said Tuesday that autonomy within Morocco was the "only" basis for a solution to the decades-old Western Sahara dispute, drawing an angry reaction from the pro-independence Polisario Front.

In a letter to King Mohammed VI congratulating him on the 25th anniversary of his coronation, French President Emmanuel Macron said the Moroccan offer was "now the only basis that will lead to a just, lasting and negotiated political solution in line with UN Security Council resolutions".

The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which in 2020 declared a "self-defence war" and seeks the territory's independence.
 
The United Nations, which considers Western Sahara a "non-self-governing territory", has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991 whose stated aim is to organise a referendum on the territory's future.

But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option.

The Moroccan royal court hailed Macron's comments in his letter as "a significant step in support of Moroccan sovereignty" over the Western Sahara.

The Polisario retorted that the French leader was supporting the territory's "violent and illegal occupation" by Morocco.

The movement's main backer, Moroccan arch-rival Algeria, already preempted Macron's comments condemning the toughening of France's position last week.

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic proclaimed by the Polisario is still a member of the African Union but it has suffered several major diplomatic blows in recent years.

In 2020, then US president Donald Trump recognised Morocco's annexation of the Western Sahara in return for Rabat normalising ties with Israel.

In 2022, Spain, which had sought for decades to adopt an even-handed approach between Morocco and the Polisario, announced it supported the Moroccan autonomy plan.