A statement by Sidi Hamdi Ould Errachid, president of the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra regional council, concerning the perimeter of the autonomy plan, has provoked strong reactions among the tribes of the neighbouring Guelmim-Oued Noun region.

This stance was strongly contradicted by Mohamed Aboudrar, a member of the Guelmim-Oued Noun regional council. He described Ould Errachid's remarks as unreasonable and inaccurate, detecting in them a tendency toward exclusion. Aboudrar firmly reiterated that autonomy cannot be conceived as compensation for territories previously administered by Spain, nor as the resolution of a fictitious conflict, as reported by Assabah on Wednesday, November 19.

On the contrary, he continued, this is a major national project aimed at managing a space with intertwined characteristics, and it must be done without discrimination or exclusion. Aboudrar even went so far as to envision a future extension of the system to other regions of the Kingdom. “When we, the people of Ouednani, affirm that autonomy concerns the three regions of the Sahara, it is not about resolving an artificial conflict, but about proposing a management model for a territory where historical, cultural, and social affinities converge,” he emphasized. The ultimate goal, he concluded, is to establish a strategic balance in the governance of the area, and not to establish the monopoly of one group at the expense of another.

In response to this controversy, Ould Errachid's supporters expressed reservations about the nature of the debate. They believe that any serious discussion about the Moroccan Sahara should not be based on loaded journalistic questions, often driven by a desire for sensationalism and division. They maintain that the questions asked were not innocent and sought to lead the interviewee to adopt positions that could be interpreted out of context.

A source close to the president of the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra council was keen to clarify that Hamdi Ould Errachid's positions have been known and consistent for decades. According to this source, they are based on a clear and explicit defense of the Moroccan identity of the Sahara and on the promotion of the autonomy project as the realistic and practical solution to an artificial dispute, notes Assabah.

The same source added that before being a political actor, Errachid is first and foremost a statesman of great wisdom, and that his response contained no offensive or exclusionary elements. Rather, it was simply a clarification of the legal and political boundaries established by the UN, formulated without any hasty or bad-faith interpretation.