Part 5 will be available soon.
Part 5 will be available soon.
The Enigma of Mohammed VI
6 Parts
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Part 5 will be available soon.
Mohammed VI, a king with big foreign policy plans
Investigation'The Enigma of Mohammed VI' (4/6). In recent years, the Moroccan monarch has become highly active on the international stage. From the highly sensitive issue of Western Sahara to Morocco's rapprochement with Israel, he has often established himself as the central player.
The fall air was mild in Rabat. On the Place du Méchouar esplanade, facing the royal palace, long red carpets had been rolled out. Suddenly, the brass of the royal guard's band rang out, signaling the arrival of the procession. The Mercedes Pullman 600 convertible carrying King Mohammed VI and Emmanuel Macron approached slowly. Proud horsemen in red tunics and green capes – Morocco's national colors – trotted alongside, following a trio of lancers led by an officer with his saber drawn. On the square, as everywhere else in the city, the mingled colors of France and Morocco fluttered in the breeze from the seafront. It was a truly idyllic scene.
On October 28, 2024, the palace pulled out all the stops to welcome the French president, who arrived with a large delegation dominated by celebrities – many of them regulars at Marrakech's riads and other Moroccan delights. The reunion between friends, who had been separated by a strange falling out, was an emotional one. Was this a return to the fundamentals of a relationship that had always been close since Morocco, the former French protectorate, gained independence in 1956? Not at all. The balance between the two countries had shifted; nothing was as it once was. Contrary to the famous line from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel The Leopard (1958), "everything must change for everything to remain the same."
If Macron enjoyed, on that day, the lavishness of a kingdom renowned for its hospitality, it was because he had given in. After a long period of hesitation and wavering, he offered Rabat a major diplomatic gift: France's recognition of "Moroccan sovereignty" over Western Sahara. To force his hand, Rabat had waged an unusually fierce three-year standoff beginning in the summer of 2021: suspending official contacts, freezing cooperation and relentless – and at times below-the-belt – attacks in the government-aligned press.
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