French Provocations Towards Algeria Continue Unabated

The second confirmation by a French minister of his country’s willingness to finance projects for the Moroccan regime in the occupied Western Sahara shows that the French authorities are continuing to provoke Algeria because of the sensitivity of the Sahrawi issue, which is still in the hands of the United Nations.
During his visit to the Kingdom of Morocco at the end of the week (Friday), the French Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, said: “The choice that has been made is very clear: to participate in the financing of the carbon-free energy transmission line between Dakhla and Casablanca. I have confirmed our readiness,” he added to the Moroccan-French Business Forum: “I believe that the time has come to make energy cooperation the backbone of the economic relaunch of our Franco-Moroccan relations.”
The French minister’s words were reported by French media such as France Inter, citing its correspondent in the Alawi kingdom. There is also a video of the French official on the social media platform YouTube, documenting his words in this regard, which were preceded by another official.
At the beginning of April this year, Franck Riester, Minister of Foreign Trade, visited the Kingdom of Morocco, and from its capital, Rabat, he said: “The ban on French financial participation in Moroccan projects in Western Sahara has been partially lifted.” The French Minister indicated that the French Development Agency, through its subsidiary dedicated to the private sector, “Proparco”, will be able to finance the high voltage power line project that will connect the cities of Casablanca and the occupied Sahrawi city of Dakhla.
The contribution of the French development agency to the financing of a Moroccan investment project in the occupied Sahrawi territories is considered to be the first of its kind, according to the French press agency (Agence France-Presse), which quotes a diplomatic source as saying: “This is the first time that Proparco has been able to provide financing in this (occupied) region. In this (occupied) region”, which means that there is a fundamental change in the French position on the Sahrawi issue, although the same diplomatic source tried to confirm that there is no change in the position on this issue.
About two months ago, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stephane Ségourney, visited the Alawite Kingdom under the leadership of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and from Rabat, he spoke about France’s “clear and continuous support” for the autonomy plan proposed by the Moroccan regime in 2007, but he tried to reduce the… These words weighed heavily on bilateral relations with Algeria, stressing his country’s commitment to the relevant resolutions and regulations of the United Nations Security Council.
Although the support of the French authorities for the expansionist policy of the Moroccan regime in the occupied Western Sahara is not considered the result of the recent visits of French officials to Rabat, it constitutes a precedent in the era of the current president, Emmanuel Macron, who has adopted since his arrival to the presidency in the Elysee Palace in 2017, A policy that tends to balance his country’s relations with the two arch-neighbors, Algeria and the Moroccan regime, which means that the positions expressed by the French ministers who visited Rabat in the last three months represent a remarkable shift in the positions of the Macron government on the Sahrawi issue.
The French authorities are aware of the sensitivity of the Sahrawi issue for their Algerian counterparts, who consider it an extension of the country’s national security, which would cast a shadow over bilateral relations, which have suffered and are still suffering from crises that have often poisoned these relations, especially since the agenda of these relations includes an expected visit of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to France in the fall of this year, in addition to leaks about an imminent visit of French Foreign Minister Stephane Séjourné to Algeria.