France On Tuesday, it made a change in its policy towards the Occidental Sahara and unwaveringly supported the sovereignty of Morocco and his plan for autonomy over the territory, a change that earned him the withdrawal of the ambassador from Algeria in Paris.
The announcement of the change of French position was made last Thursday by the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which already called it “inappropriate and unproductive”, but the news was not confirmed until this Tuesday, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the enthronement of Mohamed VIwith a statement from the Moroccan royal cabinet.
The statement advanced what was immediately confirmed by Paris: the French president, Emmanuel Macronhad sent a letter to Mohamed VI stating that the plan for autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty for the Sahara presented by Rabat was “the only basis” for resolving the conflict over this territory, 80% de facto administered by Morocco but disputed by the Sahrawis of the Polisario Front.
And in a resounding support for Rabat’s sovereignty over the former colony, Macron stated in the letter that “the present and the future of Western Sahara are within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”
France is thus following in the footsteps of other countries such as the United States and Israel, which, in the words of Donald Trump and of Benjamin Netanyahu They have supported Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara, and it goes further than that Spainwhich in 2022 stood out as the European country that most clearly supported Rabat’s thesis, stating that autonomy was the “most serious, realistic and credible” proposal to resolve the conflict.
From the Moroccan perspective, French support could be a turning point in resolving this issue, as France is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the body that deals with the conflict and which has still catalogued the territory, of 270,000 square kilometres, as pending decolonization from Spain.
«France’s new position enshrines its clear and active support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara»the Moroccan Foreign Minister told EFE on Tuesday, Naser Buritaand stressed that in his letter Macron undertakes to be consistent with this new position both internally and on the international scene.
France’s about-face marks a new era in bilateral relations, which have been in silent crisis for the past three years due to several factors, including Morocco’s desire for Paris to support its position on the Sahara more strongly.
The same thing is happening with Spain, which ended its exchange of views on Western Sahara almost a year after a serious diplomatic crisis with Rabat, or with Germany, which had suspended relations for several months until it took a position in favour of the autonomy plan.
And as happened in the case of Spain, Paris’ change has had consequences in Algeria, Rabat’s neighbour and regional rival – they have closed borders and broken relations – and which welcomes Sahrawi refugees and the Polisario Front on its territory, which stressed on Tuesday that it is “the Sahrawi people, not France or any other country, who decide the present and future of Western Sahara.”
Although France had warned him days before his decision, Algeria decided to withdraw its ambassador from Paris on Tuesday “with immediate effect”, and described Macron’s change as something done “with great haste and frivolity, without clearly measuring all the possible repercussions”.
Algiers also criticised the French move as “a renunciation” of its responsibilities as a permanent member of the Security Council and “disregards international law”. EFE (I)
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