French Politician Mélenchon Clarifies Stance on Western Sahara During Morocco Visit

Jean-Luc Melenchon continues his stay in Morocco. On the first day of his working visit, he went to the commune of Amizmiz, in the High Atlas, where he was in front of the press for nearly 20 minutes. An opportunity for the founder of LFI to clarify his position on the Sahara. "Support for the Sahrawi people struggling for self-determination and the liberation of detainees," Mathilde Panot, now a deputy and head of the Insoumis group in the National Assembly, had tweeted in October 2019, participating in a Polisario demonstration in Paris. His colleague, deputy Arnaud le Gall, a specialist in international relations at LFI, was playing the card of caution in April: "I don’t have an abrupt and completely clear-cut position on the Sahara issue." We shouldn’t "get on the wrong side of Morocco or Algeria."

Jean-Luc Melenchon’s position is clear. "I’ve read nonsense about my positions and those of the Insoumis. There is no institutional Insoumis movement relationship with anyone other than the parties of Moroccan democracy," he said, without however denying the existence of "different opinions" within LFI. "I don’t like to be attributed positions that are not mine or that are not those of my movement," specifies the native of Tangier, while praising the "very effective" Moroccan diplomacy, which has made "interesting" proposals, which "must be considered". Conversely, the left-wing politician criticized his country’s foreign policy, which "has not always shone for its sense of timeliness."

He is thus alluding to the 2021 visa crisis, the controversy over Morocco’s refusal of French aid, particularly the attitude of a "certain French press" that he describes as "totally disrespectful, totally excessive" towards the kingdom. Morocco only accepted aid from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Spain and the United Kingdom following the powerful and devastating earthquake in Al Haouz on September 8. During the exchanges with the inhabitants and the president of