France Navigates Diplomatic Tightrope Between Morocco and Algeria Amid Regional Tensions

The files that undermine the relations between France, Morocco and Algeria are numerous: The Amira Bouraoui affair, the recall of the ambassadors of Morocco and Algeria in France, the visa crisis, the Sahara. Since the American recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara in exchange for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the kingdom and Israel, Rabat is awaiting a clear position from Paris on this issue that has pitted Morocco and Algeria, the protector of the Polisario, for several decades. But France continues to play a balancing act.

"We are in a situation where there is an authoritarian drift on the part of the two countries, Morocco and Algeria, which means that there is a geopolitical one-upmanship. That is to say, when you have the elites of an authoritarian state who highlight foreign policy issues. It serves as a cover-up for internal governance problems, there is a bit of diversion in that," analyzes Aboubakr Jamai, the former director of the French-language weekly Le Journal, on RFI.

"But the two countries today are using undemocratic methods to silence their society and so there is a kind of survival instinct of authoritarianism that makes us tend to outbid on nationalism, patriotism, and so we have to invent enemies, or magnify the problems we have with third countries." According to the specialist, "in the minds of the Moroccan elites," France would be "rebalancing," or even "taking a position in favor of Algeria."

"And then there is the fact that in the minds of the Moroccan elites, there is a rebalancing, if not a positioning in favor of Algeria on the part of France, with the idea that given the energy crisis, Europe in general, France in particular, are becoming much more sensitive to Algerian demands to the detriment of Morocco, and this is illustrated by the position on the Sahara. We are witnessing today, what I consider to be a drift of Moroccan diplomacy," adds Aboubakr Jamai.