Moroccan King Mohammed VI has invited French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the North African nation after France endorsed Rabat’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The invitation on Wednesday came a day after Macron reversed Paris’ decades-long stance and declared Rabat’s 2007 proposal, which seeks to grant the region limited autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, the “only basis” for resolving long-standing conflicts.
“I fully appreciate your country’s clear support for Morocco’s sovereignty over this part of its territory,” the King said in a letter to the French leader.
Morocco and the Sahrawi separatist group Polisario Front have been at war since 1975, when Rabat annexed the former Spanish colony. The Algerian-backed group is demanding a self-determination referendum, as a previous one proposed by the UN in 1991 as part of a ceasefire process has been stalled. However, Rabat has ruled out the possibility of a vote that would grant independence to one of Africa’s most sparsely populated regions.
On Tuesday, France joined a growing number of countries, including the US and Spain, in supporting Morocco’s sovereignty claim over Western Sahara.
President Macron wrote to King Mohammed VI, stating that “the present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty,” adding “France intends to act consistently with this position at both national and international levels.”
Neighboring Algeria, which views Morocco as an occupying power in Western Sahara, has condemned France’s decision and recalled its ambassador to Paris.
The Polisario Front also criticized Macron’s move as a “departure from international legitimacy,” deeming France ineligible to serve on a UN mission tasked with organizing a referendum to decide the territory’s future.
In response, the Moroccan King claimed that Paris has contributed to “strengthening the international momentum” aimed at “putting an end to a conflict inherited from another era” by recognizing “Morocco’s legal titles and immemorial rights.”
Details of the visit will later be finalized “through diplomatic channels,” King Mohammed VI stated.
Relations between Paris and Rabat had previously been strained, in part due to the French government’s longstanding neutrality on the Western Sahara issue. Last September, French Foreign Minister Catherina Colonna downplayed diplomatic tensions with Morocco, despite the former colony’s refusal to accept French assistance in dealing with a deadly earthquake. Morocco also denied Colonna’s claims that Macron had planned to visit the former colony that year.