Rabat - French President Emmanuel Macron received King Mohammed VI in an official visit at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday afternoon.
Rabat – French President Emmanuel Macron received King Mohammed VI in an official visit at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday afternoon.
A YouTube video published by a fan reveals King Mohammed VI processing across the courtyard of the Elysee, accompanied by royal fanfare.
At the palace entrance, the King is greeted by Macron, and the two enter the palace together.
The two leaders last met at the One Planet Summit on climate change in Paris in December 2017.
This is King Mohammed VI’s first official appearance since he underwent a heart surgery in late February in Paris.
The King’s official meeting with his French counterpart comes amid increasing tension in southern Morocco as a result of Polisario’s incursions in the buffer zone, east of Morocco’s defense well, as well as its attempts to change the status quo of the region through the transfer and establishment of part of its militias and its so-called “Ministry of Defense” to the area west of Morocco’s defense wall.
France is Morocco’s chief ally and its staunchest proponent in the Security Council negotiations regarding the Western Sahara territorial dispute. As such, it has repeatedly expressed its support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for the Sahara, which it considers the “most appropriate” to helping the parties to the dispute to reach a mutually acceptable political solution.
Later this month, the United Security Council will adopt a new resolution to renew the mandate of the UN mission in the territory for one year, and Morocco will certainly count on France to support its efforts aimed at pushing the UN body to adopt a strong resolution to end Polisario’s attempts to change the status quo of the buffer zone.
