French President Emmanuel Macron will make a state visit to Morocco at the end of October, the Élysée announced on Friday. This visit marks a turning point in Franco-Moroccan relations, which have been tense in recent years.
France’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara is not without interest. What would France gain?
The Sahara Desert is experiencing heavy rainfall, the most recent of which is an extratropical cyclone. The latter crossed the northwestern Sahara on September 7 and 8 and flooded vast treeless areas in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, while these regions rarely receive rain.
After decreeing the American recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara under his administration in December 2020, former US President Donald Trump could definitively end the Sahara conflict if he won the November 2024 elections. At least that’s what George Lombardi, his main advisor, thinks.
A group close to the Polisario claims that the Royal Air Force has targeted its camels and livestock in the Saharan areas and holds MINURSO responsible for any escalation that could result.
The channel affiliated with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France 24, has recently modified its cartographic representation of Morocco. Gone are the days when the southern provinces were cut off, the channel now broadcasts a complete map of the Kingdom, including the Sahara .
The General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM) explains a very rare natural phenomenon that is affecting the desert and Saharan regions of Morocco.
Once close, the Moroccan and Algerian peoples "no longer know each other, no longer speak to each other, no longer love each other" because of the tensions between the two countries over the Sahara issue. This is at least the observation made by François Soudan, editor-in-chief of Jeune Afrique.
Nearly four years later, the American recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara in exchange for the normalization of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel continues to be the subject of criticism.
After French public television, the education sector is beginning to adopt the complete map of Morocco and its southern provinces. This is evidenced by certain French textbooks and school books published for the 2024 school year.
Ahmed Noureddine, an expert in international relations and a specialist in Saharan issues, insists on the need to ensure a legal impact of the French recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.
On the sidelines of the preparatory meeting for the 9th edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) taking place in Japan, an Algerian diplomat violently attacked a Moroccan official over a "Sahrawi Republic" plaque.