France Shifts Stance on Western Sahara, Recognizes Moroccan Sovereignty

At the end of July, France officially recognized the Moroccanness of the Sahara. In a message addressed to King Mohammed VI commemorating the 25th anniversary of his enthronement, French President Emmanuel Macron said he considered "that the present and the future of the Western Sahara are part of the framework of Moroccan sovereignty." He had assured the Moroccan sovereign of "the intangibility of the French position on this issue of national security for the kingdom." France "intends to act in coherence with this position at the national level and internationally," he had added. For Bloomberg, the change in Paris’ position on the Sahara issue has some aims.

According to the publication, "maintaining good relations with Morocco could help consolidate French security interests in the region bordering the Sahara, where a succession of military coups have overthrown governments that had cooperated with France in the fight against Islamist groups." To support its argument, the platform points out that Morocco has already concluded economic and defense agreements with countries like Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad, and that the kingdom is already present in many West African countries thanks to investments in the finance, mining and telecommunications sectors.

Moreover, France also has an eye on "the multi-billion dollar contracts that Morocco plans to award for new infrastructure and clean energy projects," the article’s author continues, citing in particular the extension of a high-speed rail line, the construction of nuclear power plants and investments in food production, green hydrogen and desalination. Not to mention the African Atlantic gas pipeline project Morocco-Nigeria launched by King Mohammed VI and former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. With a total cost of around $25 billion, this future 5,600 km long pipeline will start from Nigeria and cross 13 countries on the West African coast to reach Morocco, where it will be connected to the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline, and then to the entire European gas network.