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Rabat – French Ambassador Francis Pauly, responsible for communication in Arabic at France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refused to provide a clear statement voicing support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Speaking in an interview with news outlet France24, the diplomat was asked to respond to an appeal by Morocco’s Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch, who said that France “should not be just an observer” in the Western Sahara conflict, in light of the dossier’s recent developments.
“Morocco knows our position perfectly. Our position was reiterated by Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna during a joint press briefing with her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita,” he said in the interview, while not providing a clear position on the issue.
France sees Morocco’s Autonomy Plan “as a serious and credible basis for reaching a negotiated solution,” Pauly said during the interview, stressing that a solution based on negotiations was “the most important.”
He continued to say that France wants a resumption of negotiations between the concerned parties “to reach a fair and realistic solution.”
The statement contradicts what Morocco has been demanding of France and other European allies, as King Mohammed VI said in a speech last year that the Sahara issue is “the lens through which Morocco looks at the world.”
The King urged Morocco’s partners to “clarify their positions and reconsider them in a manner that leaves no room for doubt.”
However, France has continued to refuse to follow in the footsteps of the US or Spain and acknowledge the Autonomy Plan as the only basis for a solution to the conflict.
Akhannouch told French outlet L’Opinion that France cannot be an observer in the Western Sahara conflict, echoing the earlier calls by King Mohammed VI for Morocco’s allies to make their positions on the issue clear.
In December 2022, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna expressed similar sentiments to Pauly’s, presumably as part of the effort to overcome the diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
Akhannouch’s call for France to clarify its position suggests however that the European country’s position continues to be too ambiguous.
