In light of strong criticism of the French position on the Moroccan Sahara issue, which was announced on Monday by Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, an informed French source came out to clarify the FM’s statements and the republic’s new approach to the Sahara issue.
“The French position on the Sahara issue announced Monday is a new shift, as it addressed for the first time the issue of Paris’ support for Moroccan investment in the southern provinces,” the source told Hespress.
The same source explained that “the French position on the Sahara issue will indeed evolve over time and in stages, and this shift cannot be sudden and quick,” adding that “France’s doors are open in the Sahara file and have never been closed, and this development in the position first requires a significant deepening of relations between the two countries.”
Many activists on social media expressed they’re unconvinced by the results of Séjourné’s visit to Morocco, especially since “the French position did not change completely, and remained the same, as it was limited to renewing support for the autonomy plan without Paris announcing an explicit recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara,” they said.
On Monday, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said at a press conference with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita: “The Sahara is the highlight of my visit to Morocco. Through the autonomy plan, Rabat must count on Paris and its clear position in support of this plan.”
Séjourné added: “France’s position is clear, it wants to resolve the conflict within the framework of a proposal that satisfies both parties,” he added: “To advance our position on the Sahara means adopting pragmatism in the file, while supporting the efforts of the UN envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to restart negotiations.”
The French minister explained Paris’ position on the file: “To make progress means that there is social development in the southern provinces.
“Morocco has made an important development movement in many regions, which means that Paris will support its efforts to develop the southern provinces, and this is its current position on the dispute.
Pragmatism is the word that describes such wouldbe powerful countries’ thirst for any internatinal ties they make. France for the time being finds such an opinion or measure workable or rather satisfactory as an idea in the first place. Later on, I reckon with the coming or rise of a new government, a new president with a new ideology and creed or thought, things and decisions will go otherwise. Still, let us keep our fingers crossed now that they are playing an obedient entity. Otherwise, the idea and belief that should reign in every Moroccan citizen is that the sahara and its people are us and for us and we are them and for them whether the world likes it supports it or not. Ta