The European Union has reaffirmed its official position of not recognizing the self-proclaimed"Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic," emphasizing that the presence of this entity at any joint EU-AU meetings does not alter its firm stance. While this European statement constituted a"strong political blow" to the Polisario Front and Algeria, according to some experts, it also sparked sharp criticism of Morocco's diplomatic handling of these repeated provocations.

While some experts believe that the European Union’s insistence on non-recognition does not change the reality of the presence of the “phantom entity” at African-European summits, which serves “Algerian and separatist propaganda,” others assert that the European position constitutes a “strong political slap” to the Polisario and Algeria, and sends a clear message that the participation of this entity does not affect European policy.

Confirmation and"propaganda"

Ahmed Nour Eddine, an expert in international relations specializing in the Sahara issue, said that the European Union spokesperson for foreign affairs’ reaffirmation that the Union does not recognize the alleged “Tindouf Republic” does not change anything in the reality of the presence of the fictitious entity at the third European-African summit since 2017, which serves Algerian and separatist propaganda, at least in the media.

Noureddine continued in a statement to Hespress: “It also does not change the chronic inadequacy of the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ignores the only path we advised it to take since 2017 in order to eradicate the malignant tumor from its roots, instead of taking paracetamol to relieve the pain without treating its roots.”

He added: “What is happening now in 2025 at the Luanda summit between the African Union and the European Union is what we warned against at the Malabo summit in 2016 between the Arab League and the African Union, passing through the Abidjan summit in 2017 between the African Union and the European Union, then the TICAD summit between Japan and Africa in Tunisia in 2022 and Yokohama in 2025, and other summits that bring together the African Union with countries or international unions: the same scenario, the same actors, and the same director.”

Noureddine believes that the root of the problem is the continued membership of the “fictitious Tindouf Republic” within the African Union, and that the only solution is for “Moroccan diplomacy to move to expel the fictitious entity from the African Union,” explaining: “Because the African Union is the one that extends the invitation to the fictitious entity to attend all summits and meetings as a (member) of the Union.”

Expel the Polisario

Noureddine believes that “there is a clear breach of duty on the part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this matter, because the message that the Moroccan monarch addressed to the Kigali African Summit included a clear statement, which is that (Morocco has returned to its African family to correct the historical error) represented by the membership of an entity that does not meet the conditions of membership, neither in the past nor in the present and future.”

The expert on the Sahara issue emphasized that “the African Union is an organization of states, not a gathering or club of movements, organizations, and militias. It is well known that the fictitious entity in Tindouf lacks any of the attributes of a state as defined in international law.” He explained that “the Tindouf Republic is an entity on Algerian territory, and two independent entities cannot exist on the same geographical area. This is a clear contradiction of the principle of sovereignty over territory. In addition, the head of the fictitious entity and its members do not even possess passports and travel the world using Algerian passports. This alone constitutes sufficient grounds for disqualifying this entity from membership in the African Union, because the fact that its leaders hold Algerian passports means that Algeria has two seats within the African organization, in clear violation of the Union’s charter, which grants one seat to each member state. How can Algeria occupy two seats?!”

Noureddine stressed that “this is the simplest argument for expelling the entity, otherwise there are a thousand legal and political arguments for expelling it, and at the top of those arguments is the legal principle (what is built on falsehood is false), which applies to the (Republic of Tindouf) that was inserted into the African Organization in blatant contradiction with Chapter Four of the Charter of African Unity at that time, which stipulated that membership is special and exclusive to independent and sovereign states, which is not available in the entity.”

The international relations expert concluded that “the only solution to prevent this drama from being repeated at every African summit with Europe or any other country is for the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to fulfill its duty, as indicated in the royal message, by expelling the entity from the African Union. The Ministry has not done this and has not initiated any legal procedure or political initiative to implement it since then, despite the passage of ten years since this royal directive.” He commented: “If this disregard by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a royal message is not a breach of duty, then I do not know what is a breach of duty?!”

political slap in the face

Lahcen Akartit, a researcher in international relations, said that the position of the European Union's foreign affairs spokesperson constitutes a"strong political slap" to the Polisario Front and the Algerian state, which – in his opinion – tries every time to exploit summits in which the African Union is a party in order to achieve gains or diplomatic breakthroughs.

Aqartit explained, in a statement to Hespress, that the European Union’s confirmation of its non-recognition of the Polisario, and that the presence of this entity at any summit does not represent official recognition of it, is a position that sends a clear message that the Polisario’s participation does not affect the agenda of the joint summits between the European and African Unions, nor does it change the official European policy towards the conflict.

The speaker believes that this European position came to put an end to Algeria's attempts - which are repeated with every African summit - to push the European Union or the African Union towards positions that serve its political narrative, and he stresses that Brussels, through this statement, confirms that its position is firm towards the fabricated conflict over the Moroccan Sahara.

However, Akartit pointed out that a great responsibility still rests on the African Union itself, which is “required to comply with Security Council Resolution 2797, which adopted self-rule as the sole political basis for any future negotiations.”

He added that if the African Union wants to put this position into practice, it must prevent the Polisario Front from participating in summits that it attends as an official body, because this entity - as he says - does not have the status of an internationally recognized state.

In the same context, Aqartit pointed out that the African Union’s position taken at the Accra summit two years ago constitutes an important reference, as it stressed at the time that participation in summits should be limited to states, without non-sovereign entities, including the Polisario Front.

The researcher in international relations concludes that the African Union’s respect for its founding charter and the rules governing international relations requires that it not grant any representation to entities not internationally recognized. He also points out that the UN Security Council has spoken on this conflict, and therefore “the African Union is not required to sing outside the chorus of international and UN legitimacy.”