Morocco Earthquake: French President Addresses Aid Controversy in Video Message

"It is obviously up to His Majesty the King and the Government of Morocco, in full sovereignty, to organize international aid and therefore we are at the disposal of their sovereign choice," declared the French president in a video addressed to the Moroccan people posted on the X network (formerly Twitter), thus trying to put an end to the controversy over the aid proposed by Paris to Morocco following the deadly earthquake that has mourned the kingdom. On Sunday, the French president assured that France is ready to "intervene" to come to the aid of Morocco "in a second" where the Moroccan authorities request it, but Rabat has not requested its assistance. In the absence of a Moroccan response, Paris has announced aid of 5 million euros for NGOs present in the country and contributing to the relief efforts. "We will be there in the long term on the humanitarian, medical, reconstruction, cultural and heritage aid, in all the areas where the Moroccan people and its authorities consider that we are useful," added Emmanuel Macron.

"Until recently, President Macron did not have a very great pro-Moroccan sensitivity, to put it bluntly. He was quite obsessed with the Algerian perspective and well... And there, with this speech, this address he is addressing to the Moroccan people, I find that he has made progress," welcomed the Franco-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun. According to him, the French president "has understood that ultimately, first of all, Morocco is a sovereign state, that the king is a responsible head of state who knows what he is doing and that consequently, there is no need to be controversial about aid or no aid." "The main thing is that he expressed the solidarity of France with the Moroccan people, with the people who are suffering, with the injured, with the victims. And that’s important, it’s the least a head of state should have more expressions of this kind with Morocco rather than silences or clumsiness," he added.

Rabat is at odds with Paris due in particular to its rapprochement with Algeria, the protector of the Polisario independence movement, which broke off ties with Morocco in 2021 and its reluctance to recognize the Moroccanness of the Sahara as have already done countries like Spain and Israel. "Macron is afraid of Algeria, period. He is afraid of its reactions. He is afraid of its policy. He knows very well that at the slightest little deviation, it recalls the ambassador, it makes a scandal. Well, but me, I simply tell him, modestly, from my point of view, that Algeria will give nothing to France and will continue to exercise the memorial rent indefinitely. That’s for sure, because it has two countries it hates, it’s Morocco and France," analyzes Ben Jelloun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBmfeuN0Z14