Actions now match words. While Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed, in the middle of a diplomatic trip to Morocco, French recognition and support for “Moroccan sovereignty” over Western Sahara, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs updated the map of Morocco on its website. Now enlarged, it includes the contested area of Western Sahara to the south. Until now, this part of the country was represented with hatching, to mark a distinction. As recalled Les Echos, most world maps (including Google Maps) make a small dotted line appear, to separate this territory from the rest. This is therefore no longer the case for French cards.
This modification is far from being a detail for Morocco. “France confirms through actions its position consolidating the Moroccan character of the Sahara,” thus welcomes Maroc Hebdowhile the Moroccan daily Today Morocco underlines that this revision “is in line with the positive dynamics experienced by the Sahara issue on the international scene.” “The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs updates the map of Morocco while preserving its entire territory,” the site also welcomes Morocco Diplomaticestimating that “by integrating the Sahara into the map of Morocco, France reaffirms its commitment to the territorial integrity of the Kingdom and opens the way to a strengthened bilateral relationship”. And added: “This update of the map symbolizes not only a diplomatic act, but also a sign of solidarity and support for Moroccan aspirations.”
The map of Morocco updated on the website of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
© / French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Until recently, France was reluctant to position itself on this geographical conflict, which did not fail to arouse bitterness in Morocco, where it is a real national cause and where it was difficult to understand that Paris does not align with the recognition, by the United States, of Moroccan sovereignty. The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara, considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, has in fact pitted Rabat against the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algiers, for half a century. The new French position “is not hostile to anyone”, Emmanuel Macron took care to assure Tuesday, in a response to criticism from Algeria.
Rebuilding a diplomatic and commercial future
Welcomed on Monday with great fanfare by King Mohammed VI to rebuild ties as historic as they have been deeply strained for three years by quarrels, the French president triggered loud applause from the Moroccan Parliament when he reaffirmed the next day that “the present and the future” of Western Sahara fell “within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty”. A position already stated this summer in a letter to the king, which opened the way for this state visit which has been postponed many times.
During this diplomatic and commercial trip, Emmanuel Macron noted the signing by several French companies (including Engie and MGH Energy) of agreements aimed at the production of green energy and e-fuels from Moroccan Western Sahara, an El Dorado for renewables with its sunshine and exposure to the wind. In total, more than 40 contracts and investment agreements have been concluded for a total amount of “more than ten billion euros”, in the railway sector, the second largest water desalination project in the world, the supply of a communications satellite or the production of green hydrogen.
The renewed French enthusiasm does not stop there: after having notified the “update” of the map of Morocco, the head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot announced “from next week” the visit of the ambassador French in Western Sahara. “We are going to increase our consular and cultural action there with a view to the creation of a French Alliance,” he added, while the French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati spoke of the upcoming inauguration of a Higher Institute audiovisual and cinema professions with an African dimension in Dakhla, a large city in Western Sahara on the Atlantic Ocean.