Over the past two weeks, two French officials visited the disputed territory of Western Sahara as guests of Morocco, enraging many, including the Algerian government and the Sahrawi-led Polisario Front liberation movement, amidst Morocco’s occupation of the territory.
The indigenous Sahrawi people claim Western Sahara as their homeland.
On 17 February, Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister of Algerian and Moroccan parentage, visited the disputed Western Sahara, launching a French cultural mission in Laayoune alongside Moroccan Culture Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid. A week later, on 24 February, French Senate President Gérard Larcher paid a similar visit to the city to affirm France’s support for Morocco’s claim over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Algeria, which hosts Sahrawi refugee camps as it supports the liberation movement, slammed the visit, calling it ‘objectionable on multiple levels.’
Many also considered French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in July 2024 a turning point in bilateral relations, reinforcing the former coloniser’s influence in the territorial dispute.
Accordingly, the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, a Sahrawi-led political party that claims governance over Western Sahara, has also condemned the visits, viewing them as complete disregard for international law. In a statement on social media, the Algerian foreign ministry said the move ‘reinforces Morocco’s fait accompli in Western Sahara, a territory where the decolonisation process remains incomplete and the right to self-determination unfulfilled.’ The visits spotlight coloniser France’s struggle to maintain its waning influence in Africa by directly supporting Morocco’s occupation.
On 30 July 2024, France became one of the few countries to recognise Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara.
The UN has classified Western Sahara as a non-self-governing region. While Algeria insists on a referendum in Western Sahara that the UN has called for since 1991, Morocco has continued denying the Sahrawi people their right to vote as it occupies the land. In October 2024, the UN Security Council called for parties to reach a ‘lasting and mutually acceptable solution.’
Sources:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2590760/middle-east
https://minurso.unmissions.org/background
https://apnews.com/article/morocco-france-recognize-western-sahara-65856623c3fe5f565583de2d521570ed