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Doha – France’s diplomatic stance on Western Sahara has undergone a seismic shift, with three consecutive high-level visits to the region signaling what can only be described as a clear break from Paris’s past ambiguity.
“After Rachida Dati and Gérard Larcher, Gérald Darmanin is joining the Franco-Moroccan rapprochement. The question of a French consulate in Dakhla is no longer taboo.” Introducing its latest analysis of the evolving French position on Western Sahara with this lede, France’s Le Point newspaper chose to emphasize the diplomatic breakthrough represented by recent high-level French visits to southern Morocco and Algeria’s resulting isolation.
Under the headline “Morocco and France Intensify their Cooperation in Western Sahara,” the French publication explores what it calls a decisive turning point in Franco-Moroccan relations.
According to Le Point’s Rabat correspondent Yasmine Tijani, “Paris no longer contents itself with observing, it is actively involved in Western Sahara.”
The article highlights how three weeks after visits by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati and Senate President Gérard Larcher, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin signed a joint declaration with his Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Ouahbi on March 10. The agreement aimed to strengthen the fight against “terrorism and organized crime,” Le Point indicates.
“By visiting Tarfaya, Laayoune and Dakhla in mid-February, then with the visit of Senate President Gérard Larcher, Paris is sending an unequivocal message,” it notes, emphasizing that French officials have “multiplied unequivocal declarations” in which they have consistently stated that “for France, the present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”
The publication quotes Florence Kuntz, former European Parliament member, who describes this evolution as a game-changer. Kuntz believes that “this ministerial visit finally opens the path to Moroccan Sahara.”
Read also: Macron Read France’s Sahara Recognition Letter to Tebboune Before Announcement
While Dati cautiously noted “the opening of a consular office is dictated by demographic development and growing consular needs,” Le Point reports, Larcher was more explicit and forthcoming during an official dinner in Laayoune. “French consular action will be deployed” and French businesses are ready to engage in the region, the report quotes Larcher as stating.
Le Point details the concrete manifestations of this diplomatic shift, reporting that “French involvement is intensifying on the ground.” The paper notes “the presence of French companies is strengthening in renewable energies, infrastructure, and tourism.”
It also mentions the signing of nine agreements between French and Moroccan cultural operators and quotes Dati’s strategic vision for the new Alliance Française in Laayoune. “We want this Alliance Française to become a flagship location for our cooperation with Morocco.”
The publication gives particular attention to educational initiatives, describing the groundbreaking of the French OSUI Paul-Pascon high school as “concrete proof” of France’s commitment, detailing its “3,500-square-meter complex on 2 hectares” with “modern classrooms, spaces dedicated to teachers, multi-sports grounds.”
In what Le Point terms “Algeria, the big loser in the French shift,” the publication describes Algiers’ immediate reaction of denouncing “unacceptable interference” and suspending Senate-level relations.
The article quotes a Moroccan news site’s analysis: “Surprisingly, at every major international gathering, Algeria claims it is not involved in the conflict. However, the virulence of its reactions to each Moroccan advance proves exactly the opposite.”
Le Point goes on to note that “Franco-Algerian relations are going through a phase of increasing tensions, between migration disagreements and declining security cooperation.”
Paris appears to be positioning Rabat as its key partner in North Africa, the publication suggests, observing that “if the current trend continues, Paris could soon officially join the thirty countries that have opened consulates in Dakhla or Laayoune.” It concludes that such a move would “consecrate a new diplomatic era between Rabat and Paris.”
