Morocco’s Eastern Sahara: “What Belongs to Caesar Shall Return to Caesar!”

During the past colonial period, France unfairly ceded to Algeria several Moroccan territories including Eastern Sahara. But Morocco’s historical and legitimate rights are inalienable and the truth always prevails and rights never die.

French ambassador to Morocco Christophe Lecourtier has posted lately a video showing the diplomat pointing to Morocco’s map displaying the Kingdom territory including Western and Eastern Sahara. The move sends a strong message to the Algerian rulers who are seeking to preserve colonial borders.

According to some analysts, the French ambassador could not have shared the video without receiving green light from the Elysée or Quai d’Orsay.

The French diplomat move, which has irked the Algerian regime, comes amid reports saying that Paris has provided Rabat a large number of historical manuscripts, official letters and diplomatic correspondences strengthening the Kingdom’s position and legitimate rights to retrieve legally its Eastern Sahara territory.

Furthermore, a declassified CIA document recognizes the Moroccan sovereignty over the Eastern Sahara stretching from Hassi Beida (Bechar province) down to Tinjoub town (southern Mhamid Ghizlane) and holds France responsible for the territorial dispute between Morocco and Algeria.

During France’s administration of Morocco and Algeria, successive redefinitions of the administrative line separating the French Moroccan from the French Algerian jurisdiction tended to favor Algeria, which legally was a part of France, while Morocco was only a protectorate, says the U.S Central Agency memo.

In 1958, when the Algerian rebels were operating in the Saharan area, France and Morocco “informally agreed” on respective operational zones so as to avoid clashes between their forces. Under this informal agreement, the French extended their occupation north and west of earlier lines, but the new line was not accorded any legal status, underlines the CIA document.

“This line, however, is adopted by the Algerians. The Moroccans insist that the true boundary is an earlier line, which places the posts of Hassi Beida and Tinjoub in Morocco. These posts are important because they are on the main caravan trail linking Colomb-Bechar and Tindouf”, says the CIA document.

An agreement was reached in 1961 between late King Hassan II and Ferhat Abbas, then Prime minister of the provisional Algerian government to retrieve the eastern Moroccan Sahara but the Algerian leaders broke their promise. They betrayed Moroccans who supported them during their independence war. They refused to return Moroccan Saharan territories, preferring to stick to inherited colonial borders.

Now, France turns against Algerian traitors and backs Morocco, tending to honor its past historical & political commitments.