France’s Stance On Western Sahara Issue Threatens Its Relations With Algeria

Although the French authorities are aware of the sensitivity of the Sahrawi issue in relation to Algeria’s foreign policy, they continue to play on both sides, by adopting an ambiguous position that tries to pretend that Paris stands at the same distance from Algeria and the Moroccan Makhzen regime.
In the last official French statement regarding the Sahrawi issue, Patrice Paoli, who is in charge of communicating in Arabic at the French Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with the French channel “France 24”, that “Morocco is fully aware of our position, which was confirmed by our Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna during her last visit to Rabat.”
The French channel journalist asked this question to Patrice Paoli, in response to the request of the head of the cabinet government, Aziz Akhannouch, for the French authorities to get out of the gray area regarding the Sahrawi issue.
The French official went on to explain his country’s position: “France said from the outset that the Moroccan autonomy initiative constitutes a serious and credible basis for a negotiated solution.” He added, “On this basis, we want to resume negotiations between the parties concerned until they reach a just and realistic solution.”
The journalist of the channel affiliated with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on Patrice Paoli’s words, saying: “Therefore, you will not go as far as recognizing the Moroccanness of the Sahara as demanded.” The official responded with “Quai D’Orsay” saying: “This (is) the official French position, as I said,” leaving the question unanswered directly.
Since the crisis that erupted between the Moroccan regime and France, in the wake of the “makhzen” intelligence spying on the phone of French President Emmanuel Macron and a number of his senior aides, in what was known as the “Pegasus” scandal, the French authorities have been avoiding highlighting their position on the Sahrawi issue, and evading answering questions of this kind, and if any of its officials were embarrassed, they use phrases such as those previously mentioned.
The French position on the Sahrawi issue reveals a pragmatic policy that Paris was forced to adopt in light of the crisis in its relations with Rabat, in which there is some degree of neutrality in its view, but it remains without what is expected of it from the perspective of the Algerian authorities, who do not see the position of their friends as acceptable unless they are involved in support of the United Nations’ resolution calling for a the holding of a referendum to enable the Saharawi people to determine their own destiny.
The Sahrawis, along with the Algerians, hold the French authorities responsible for the “deviation” that occurred in Paris’ position on the Sahrawi issue at the United Nations level.
In this context, the diplomacy of the former French President, Jacques Chirac, is responsible for obstructing the implementation of the self-determination referendum, and the former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, bears the responsibility of another deviation as it stands behind the self-rule plan presented by the Makhzen regime in 2007, at the level of the United Nations, at a time when French companies were siphoning off Algeria’s money without any accountability or control.
However, a lot of data has changed today with regard to Algeria in dealing with its partners, as it no longer grants advantages without charge, and what is happening with Spain is an indication of the perception of the changes that occurred in the diplomatic doctrine of Algeria, and therefore Paris is required today, more than ever, to review its position on the Sahrawi issue, in line with United Nations resolutions, if it wanted to build stable relations with Algeria.
It is noteworthy that the French position on the Sahrawi issue witnessed some slight modifications in the autumn of last year, during the voting session on extending the mission of the United Nations Mission to Conduct the Referendum in Western Sahara, which is known by the Latin letters “MINURSO”, so that the representative of France in the UN body used to vote “Yes” with an emphasis on supporting the autonomy plan with a comment after the vote, which is the part that the representative of Paris did not do at the end of last October.