The head of French diplomacy sought Monday to nip in the bud the controversy over the reasons why Morocco, currently at odds with Paris, did not take up France’s aid offer after the devastating earthquake occurred this weekend.
The Moroccan government announced on Sunday that it had accepted support from four countries: Spain, Great Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
As of Monday, Rabat had still not requested French aid, causing astonishment while President Emmanuel Macron declared on Sunday that France was ready to intervene “the second” the Moroccan authorities requested it.
“It’s a bad quarrel, a completely inappropriate quarrel,” declared Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on the BFMTV channel. “Morocco has not refused any aid, any proposal,” she added, insisting that “Morocco is sovereign”.
The country “is alone in a position to determine what its needs are and the pace at which it wants responses to be provided”, she added.
For Pierre Vermeren, historian and professor at the University of the Sorbonne, it is however a “clear political sign” of the cold between the two countries.
“The French are used to working with Morocco,” he told AFP, noting “the question of language”.
“It’s obvious that it’s easier for French people to go to work in Morocco than for British people or even Spanish people in the South,” he continues.
Relations between Morocco and France, a former colonial power where a large Moroccan diaspora lives, have been tense since Emmanuel Macron tried to get closer to Algeria, which broke off its diplomatic relations with Rabat in 2021, accused of ” hostile acts.”
Restrictions on granting visas to Moroccans, lifted last December, had also strained relations.
For months, there has been no Moroccan ambassador in France.
Rabat is also growing impatient because Paris does not seem inclined to budge on the thorny issue of Western Sahara, almost 80% of which is controlled by Morocco.
Morocco criticizes France for not aligning with the United States and Israel who have recognized the “Moroccan nature” of Western Sahara, sacred “national cause” by Rabat and while Spain considers that the Rabat plan proposing an autonomy plan under its sovereignty is “the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution of the dispute”.
“Resume language”
Without predicting the future aid that could be requested when tens of thousands of people will need to temporarily relocate, Pierre Vermeren therefore sees “a message” indicating that Morocco prefers for the moment “to surround itself with friendly monarchies”. rather than turning to France which maintains “good relations with the Algerians” to the “detriment” of Morocco.
“We know the diplomacy of Mohammed VI,” continues Pierre Vermeren. “He likes to send messages, clear chin strokes to say when he is angry.”
Without denying bilateral tensions, Catherine Colonna assured that relations were far from broken. She said that Emmanuel Macron had exchanged “many times” during the summer with King Mohammed VI and that the two countries were working to find a date for the French president’s visit to Morocco.
She herself spoke at length with her Moroccan counterpart on Sunday.
“All contacts are made at all levels. Let’s put that (the tensions) aside. People are suffering. People need help,” insisted the minister, also announcing aid of 5 million euros to help the NGOs currently “on site”.
Beyond questions about aid, this tragedy which left nearly 2,500 dead and almost as many injured, according to a provisional report, is an opportunity for Paris and Rabat to “regain language”, underlines Pierre Vermeren.
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin refused to make a link between the tensions and the absence of a request for aid from France.
However, he stressed on France Info that it was “important for France to put its flag in its pocket, to put its sensitivity in its pocket and to ensure that French aid can be delivered by all possible means and in particular through private channels or through a European channel.”