Morocco maintains its pressure for France and other European countries to recognize the Sahara as Moroccan

Rabat wants them to follow in Trump's footsteps or at least support the autonomy plan on the terms that Spain did

MADRID, 5 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

"The question of the Sahara constitutes the lens through which Morocco looks at the world and is the clear and simple criterion with which it measures the sincerity of friendships and the effectiveness of associations." This is how resounding King Mohamed VI was shown on August 20 in a message whose final addressee was mainly France, but also other European countries that refuse to endorse his thesis regarding the former Spanish colony.

The message on Twitter that the then US president, Donald Trump, published on December 10, 2020, recognizing Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara, was a turning point in the campaign that Moroccan diplomacy has been deploying to add supporters to its cause of which forms part of its territory and therefore is not about to be decolonized as advocated by the UN.

The letter that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, sent last March to Mohamed VI, in which he informed him that he considered that the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara of 2007 is "the most serious, credible and realistic basis" for resolving the conflict, gave wings to Rabat in its particular crusade.

The monarch himself valued it in the aforementioned speech, in which he referred to the "unshakable position of the United States" which was "a true incentive" and also praised "the clear and responsible position of Spain, our neighbor, which well knows the origin and reality of this dispute".

Both Mohamed VI and the Moroccan government have made no secret of their desire for other countries to follow in the footsteps of Spain and, if possible, the United States, which under Trump went further by recognizing the Moroccan nature of the Sahara.

The Prime Minister, Aziz Ajanuch, took advantage of an interview in a French newspaper last January to defend that "Paris cannot simply be an observer" while "great evolutions in the recognition, by the great powers, of Morocco's sovereignty over our Southern Provinces", referring to the Sahara.

For Rabat it is especially important that France take this step and they have made it clear on several occasions, but the French government has not given its arm to twist for now. Paris has made it clear that it supports the autonomy plan for the Sahara, as it did from the beginning, however it does not believe that it should be considered as the only possible solution.

The bilateral relationship between the two countries, traditionally good, is going through a crisis that has been aggravated in the last month by the vote in the European Parliament on a motion critical of Morocco and that in the Alaouite kingdom it has been denounced that it was promoted by the leader of Renew's liberals, Stéphane Sejourné, a close ally of French President Emmanuel Macron.

In this context, Macron offered an olive branch this week, expressing his willingness to "move forward" despite the "controversies" and valued his good personal relationship and friendship with Mohamed VI. Rabat's reaction was withering: "Relations are neither friendly nor good, neither between the two governments nor between the Royal Palace and the Elysée," an authorized government source transferred to the newspaper 'Jeune Afrique'.

The source questioned whether both the approval of the resolution in the European Parliament as well as the accusations by the French press that Morocco would have spied on Macron and other personalities with the 'Pegasus' software could have been done "without the involvement of the French authorities". Both questions are part of "an offensive whose objective is to gain control over Morocco and contain its internal and foreign policy decisions," he denounced.

While this new scuffle with France was taking place, the Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, was visiting Rabat and a joint declaration was signed in which Austria maintains that the Moroccan autonomy plan is "a basis for a solution to the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, accepted by all parties."

This declaration, which does not reach the level of the one made by Spain, much less the one expressed in his day by Trump, has been seen by both the Moroccan government and the Moroccan press as a new achievement for their cause.

The Foreign Minister, Naser Burita, celebrated the position and also the incipient opening of consulates by some countries in Dakhla and El Aaiún, which he described as a "message" for others, while the newspaper 'Le Matin' highlighted the following day that There were already twelve EU countries aligned with the Moroccan thesis: Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Hungary, Slovakia, Cyprus, France, Romania, Portugal and now also Austria.

For the researcher at the Elcano Haizam Amirah Fernández Royal Institute, both these statements and the opening of consulates announced by almost thirty countries --especially Africans-- in the Sahara constitute "tactical victory." "The reality on the ground and the balance of forces goes the other way", he underlines in statements to Europa Press.

"Morocco is pressuring other countries to follow in Trump's footsteps" but so far no major country has done so, nor has any international organization such as the UN, the EU, the African Union or even the Arab League, said this expert. , which affects that with the arrival of Joe Biden to the White House, although he did not go back on what Trump declared, this position has not continued to be deepened.

Thus, he recalls that for the moment the consulate that Trump promised in Dakhla has not been opened, nor have joint military maneuvers been carried out in Saharawi territory as Rabat wanted and "from Washington other countries have not been invited to follow in the footsteps of Trump" who also made the decision after losing re-election.

In addition, Washington now maintains every time the Moroccan autonomy plan is discussed that it is "a potential approach to achieve the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara", far from considering it the best basis for resolving the conflict, as Sánchez did with his letter to Mohamed VI.

On the other hand, Amirah Fernández draws attention to the fact that despite the fact that Trump took this step to accompany the reestablishment of relations between Morocco and Israel, the latter country still does not recognize the Sahara as Moroccan while Morocco has not yet opened its embassy on Israeli territory. Israel has not done so "because it knows that it would make some of its African partners very angry, which bothers Morocco," she said.

Thus, the Elcano Institute analyst warns that Morocco's intention to "resolve without a political agreement or consultation with the population does not solve the conflict and could generate greater confrontations" in the Maghreb and by extension in the Sahel, since the rivalry between Rabat and Algiers is at one of its highest levels and there is "a risk of escalation or accident" between the two countries, also mired in an arms race.