France-Morocco relations: in Rabat, ministers seal the resumption of contacts
France and Morocco on a reconciliation mission.
After 18 months of tensions, silence and sometimes accusations, the two countries sealed the resumption of contacts this Monday morning.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné was received by his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in Rabat.
The two men announced the resumption and renewal of bilateral relations, all under the aegis of their respective heads of state.
Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita (right) and his French counterpart Stéphane Séjour, in Rabat this Monday February 26, 2024. AFP - FADEL SENNA
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With our correspondent in Rabat,
Victor Mauriat
Stéphane Séjourné has repeated it several times, he was personally commissioned by Emmanuel Macron to ensure the good renewal of Franco-Moroccan relations.
Accused a year ago by Rabat, when he was head of the Renew parliamentary group in the European Parliament, of having remotely guided a motion hostile to Morocco, the new head of French diplomacy put all the forms in his speech, ensuring that he was there to “
create an avant-garde partnership
” between the two countries “
for the next 30 years
”, taking into account “
developments in the kingdom
”.
On the sensitive issue of Western Sahara, Stéphane Séjourné recalled France's support for the Moroccan autonomy plan proposed as part of the mission supervised by the UN on site.
However, Rabat has been asking for several months for a change in the French discourse, like its Spanish neighbor, but France, which participated in the drafting of the said plan, is content to say that we must now “
move forward
” on the issue. .
For his part, Nasser Bourita also insisted on the renewal of relations, announcing several bilateral ministerial visits which will take place on both sides of the Mediterranean, and said he hoped that the two countries would collaborate in particular in the Sahel, where they have common interests and vision.
To rereadWarming of ties between France and Morocco: “The interests are very intertwined”
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Stéphane Séjourné