The announcement was made this Tuesday, July 30 by Rabat as Morocco celebrates the 25th anniversary of King Mohammed VI’s accession to the Throne. Paris now fully supports the Moroccan plan for Western Sahara. This territory in the south of the Kingdom has been contested for more than 50 years, between Morocco, which considers it part of the country, and the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, which claims its independence. A major change in French diplomacy, which divides the political class.
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A ” clarification » from Paris had become urgent on the question of Western Sahara. The point of view is shared by both the Green MP Karim Bencheikh and the right-wing senator Christian Cambon. The president of the France-Morocco friendship group at the Luxembourg Palace expressed his satisfaction:
” Fifteen European countries had already taken this step and it was important that France, which was beginning to suffer some of the political consequences of this uncertainty, clarify this position. “.
Because what the resigning Minister of Culture Rachida Dati describes as ” historic moment ” comes after several years of stormy relations with Rabat, but also with its rival Algiers. Emmanuel Macron has therefore made a choice, believes Christian Cambon:
” There have been several rather complicated sequences recently between theAlgeria and the France and we risked losing at the same time the friendship and the particularly close ties which unite us toMorocco. So it is a position which, by not being clarified, made us lose on all counts. “.
” A choice, but at what price? ” asks the communist deputy Jean-Paul Lecoq:
” We cannot come to terms with international law, and all those who want to come to terms with it generate violence. How does the President of the Republic, while calling for a political truce, choose this moment to make a political decision of the utmost importance? “.
First political consequence: Algeria has already recalled its ambassador to France.
Read alsoWestern Sahara: Algiers withdraws its ambassador after Paris’s increased support for the Moroccan position