Dominique Strauss-Kahn Embraces Moroccan Identity, Aids Earthquake Victims

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has chosen Morocco as his second country for several reasons. "I feel as Moroccan as French. I spent my childhood in this country. I’ve been here for 15 years now. My wife is Moroccan. Many of my friends are Moroccan. My children are in France and so my heart is divided. But I feel very Moroccan. I have no trouble saying it," he said in an interview with BFM TV.

The president of the "Mekkiil’" association is very affected by the devastating earthquake that hit Morocco. "When I feel Morocco suffering as it is suffering today - I don’t just think of those who are suffering in their flesh because they are in the rubble, but all the Moroccans around me that I see suffering to see their Moroccan brothers in this distress," he said, saluting the Moroccan solidarity that he says he does not always "feel in a society like ours in France".

Reacting to the tense relations between France and Morocco, DSK notes a certain mutual animosity between the two countries, a situation he "deeply regrets". "France is in a sense a foster mother, something it has long exercised. Morocco now exerts such an influence that on the whole French-speaking Africa, in the economic sense I mean," explains the former IMF chief, stressing the need for the two countries to rebuild ties.

And he adds: "If you want the bottom line of my thinking, the problem is not between Morocco and France. The problem comes from certain difficulties that may have existed and which, for me, are largely French. This problem will pass with time." For Strauss-Kahn, France’s current foreign policy towards Morocco shows a "lack of knowledge" of the kingdom. "In recent years, and for the first time since Morocco’s independence, there has not been a French specialist on the Kingdom at the Élysée. Well, it shows!" he comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koSlBPG681k