Towards a new beginning in French Moroccan ties
The French government has sent a series of positive signals to mend ties with its once longstanding partner in North Africa, Morocco, after relations worsened to an unprecedented level threatening to sap decades of cooperation.
Morocco’s news agency reported on Feb 19 that the King has given “high instructions” to his three sisters who met France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron at the Elysée in Paris for a luncheon.
“This luncheon is in keeping with the long-standing friendly relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the French Republic,” wrote Morocco’s official news agency.
This strong message of willingness to foster ties, came following a series of positive remarks by French top diplomats.
The new Foreign Minister, Stephane Séjourné, who led last year a campaign against Morocco at the European parliament, said he was tasked by President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen ties with Morocco.
French ambassador to Morocco Christophe Lecourtier said mending ties requires Paris making its position clear on the Sahara.
Earlier this year, French officials voiced support for the autonomy plan but they fell short of an outright recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory following the US and Israel’s suit, despite mounting calls on Macron to do so.
Morocco’s King has made it clear that the Sahara issue is the lenses through which Morocco measures the sincerity of friendships.
Macron has lost his bet on the military regime in Algeria which he tried to empower at a time Algiers was indulging in warmongering against Morocco, cutting ties, banning airlines from crossing its airspace and cutting gas supply, to cite but a few hostile measures.
While French-Moroccan ties were faltering against the backdrop of a French retreat from the Sahel and a failure to strengthen ties with Algeria, Morocco forged ahead, diversifying economic and political ties with Spain unseating France as the main trading partner for the North African Kingdom. Meanwhile, Morocco managed, thanks to a win-win approach and full respect of sovereignty, to strengthen ties with the Sahel going as far as offering them the possibility of accessing global trade through Moroccan Atlantic ports and infrastructure.
Making a clear-cut stand on the Sahara issue is not only conducive to stronger Paris-Rabat ties but would also cement regional stability and security and send a message to Algeria that its support for separatism in a proxy war against Morocco is an aggression and a threat to regional peace that great powers are no longer willing to tolerate.
