France Signals Shift Towards Supporting Morocco’s Sahara Autonomy Plan

France will support the autonomy plan for the Sahara proposed by Morocco to the UN and supported by countries like the United States, Spain and Israel, and will work for its broad acceptance within the international community, Lecourtier said in an interview Monday with Radio 2M. "This is consistent with what we have done in the past, and it is the reaffirmation that we will be a constant, faithful, creative and dynamic ally," he added.

On October 30 in New York, the French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière, also reaffirmed his country’s commitment to contributing significantly to the settlement of the conflict in the Sahara. "The time has come to move forward," he said.

Lecourtier also criticized the reports of the French media on the devastating earthquake that struck the Al Haouz region on September 8, killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring 5,500, as well as on Morocco’s refusal of French aid. "I was ashamed of what I saw on French television, which many Moroccans saw during those tragic hours, it seemed unworthy of the relationship between France and Morocco, unworthy of the French," he lamented.

Relations between Rabat and Paris have been tense since 2021 due to the Pegasus affair and have been exacerbated by France’s restrictions on visas for Moroccans and its rapprochement with Algeria, not to mention its insistence on not clarifying its position on the Sahara.