President Emmanuel Macron renewed French support for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara Tuesday, October 29, and pledged French investment in the largely Moroccan-controlled but disputed territory.
In an address to the Moroccan parliament on a three-day state visit, Macron said French companies "will support the development" of Western Sahara, whose "present and future" belong under "Moroccan sovereignty." He pledged "investments and sustainable support initiatives to benefit local populations."
This comes a day after Paris and Rabat signed several deals – including on energy and infrastructure – with a total value of "up to 10 billion euros," official sources told AFP, though specific contract details were not disclosed.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is largely controlled by Morocco but the Algerian-backed Polisario Front has campaigned for its independence since before Spanish forces pulled out in 1975. Deals with Morocco involving Western Sahara have been a problem for European governments with the EU's top court earlier this month upholding the cancellation of trade deals allowing Morocco to export Sahrawi products to the bloc.
The United Nations considers Western Sahara a "non-self-governing territory" and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991 whose stated aim is to organise a referendum on the territory's future. But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option.
France's stance on the issue has been ambiguous in recent years, which – in addition to Macron's efforts to reconcile with Algeria – strained ties between Rabat and Paris. The two governments have also been at odds over other issues, including migration after France in 2021 halved the number of visas it grants to Moroccans.
But Macron began easing tensions when he said in July that Morocco's offer of autonomy for the territory under its sovereignty was the "only basis" to resolve the conflict. France's diplomatic turnabout had been awaited by Morocco, whose annexation of Western Sahara had already been recognized by the United States in return for Rabat normalizing ties with Israel in 2020.
Macron's visit to Rabat comes after his rapprochement efforts with Algeria seem to have hit a dead end. He said France's new position on Western Sahara was "hostile to no one," though Paris's diplomatic shift has angered Algiers. A state visit to Paris by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was rescheduled multiple times before being called off by Algiers earlier this month.
After Macron endorsed Morocco's autonomy plan in July, Algeria promptly withdrew its ambassador to Paris and has yet to send a replacement. Algeria, which cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021, has recently begn imposing visa requirements on Moroccans, accusing some of its passport holders of "Zionist espionage."