France on way to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Sahara- former French ambassador

France is moving in the direction of recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara provinces, former French ambassador to Algiers Xavier Driencourt said.

“We are getting closer to Morocco. And what will happen on the Algerian side? From my point of view, there are two possibilities: either we fall out again with the Algerians, especially if we recognize the Moroccanness of the Sahara, which seems to me to be part of the facts, and the future of our diplomatic position. Or else, to make up for this rapprochement with Rabat, we will be led to give additional guarantees to Algeria,” Driencourt said in a video interview with Le Figaro.

France has more interests with Morocco not only in the economic field, he said, adding that “with Algeria, our interests are very limited.”

Driencourt, a fierce critic of Macron’s tropism towards Algeria, said France is recognizing that its attempts to court Algeria have failed.

Hostility to France is a pillar of the regime in Algeria, he said, noting that Algeria’s rulers need to stoke anti-France rhetoric in order to gain legitimacy.

“Algerians have chosen China, Turkey or Germany to the detriment of France…the President of the French Republic has seen that his efforts vis-à-vis Algeria have not produced the desired results,” he said.

Xavier Driencourt served as French Ambassador to Algiers from 2008 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2020 covering the critical years of the Hirak that ousted Bouteflika. He is the author of “The Algerian Enigma: Chronicles of an Embassy in Algiers”.