Morocco Snubs French Government Aid After Deadly Earthquake, Sparking Diplomatic Tension

After the devastating earthquake that has already killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 5,000, Morocco has accepted aid from four countries, namely Spain, the United Kingdom, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but not from France, sparking a controversy that never ends. However, the kingdom has accepted humanitarian aid from French relief associations and groups of Moroccans in Europe.

France feels humiliated by Morocco, its former colony, which does not accept its aid to cope with the consequences of the earthquake, Atalayar reports, specifying that Morocco, learning lessons from the management of natural disasters in Haiti, Turkey, Greece and Italy, has opted for essential aid to deal with the first aid, in particular the search and rescue of survivors, and will accept other aid according to needs.

But France is having a hard time digesting the fact of having been put on the waiting list by Morocco. Like France, several countries wanted to provide aid to Morocco, but the authorities of the kingdom only accepted those of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, in the Gulf, of Great Britain and Spain, in Europe, the latter having very advanced reconnaissance techniques and trained search and rescue teams and sniffer dogs.

International aid is an instrument of foreign policy. Aid is never disinterested and both the countries that offer it and those that accept it want to preserve their interests. In this case, accepting international aid would mean for Morocco opening up its areas of national sovereignty to friendly or allied countries. This explains why, the ambiguous position of France on the Sahara issue has probably led Morocco to make this decision to refuse its aid.