Two days after the deadly earthquake which struck it, Morocco accepted aid from four countries including Spain and the United Kingdom, but still not the presence of French aid. However, the executive denies any discomfort.
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Monday September 11, Rabat had still not requested French aid after the deadly earthquake which struck the southwest of Marrakech this weekend. However, there is no question of recognizing the slightest tension. Mine clearance operation for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Monday morning: “It’s a bad quarrel, Morocco has not refused any aid, that’s not how things should be presented”, defused Catherine Colonna. How then can we understand the silence of Mohamed VI given the historical proximity between Paris and Rabat?
>> Morocco: why the earthquake toll is so high and why it risks getting higher
When the president’s entourage reacts, it is to refute any link between the king’s lack of response and the Franco-Moroccan record. Rabat is particularly annoyed that Paris does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, as Spain has done. But to say that things are going well between Mohamed VI and the Spaniard Pedro Sanchez is false, judges an advisor to the Head of State. Generally speaking, Mohamed VI has complicated relationships with everyone, according to him.
A relationship that is no longer vital
However, some believe that Emmanuel Macron could have done better, as Dominique de Villepin clearly suggested, for example, Monday morning on franceinfo: the former Prime Minister pointed to personal links “difficult” between Emmanuel Macron and the King of Morocco. It must be said that Rabat has difficulty understanding the president’s vain efforts to get closer to Algeria, a country which broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco two years ago. A strategy towards Algiers poorly understood by many and dismissed by Nicolas Sarkozy in his latest book: “In this game, we risk losing everything. We will not gain the trust of Algeria and will lose that of Morocco,” he warns.
>> No request for aid from Morocco to France after the earthquake: “Of course, there are political considerations at play”, according to historian Gabriel Martinez-Gros
But the distance between Paris and Rabat is also linked to structural reasons, confides a diplomat: France has less impact than before in Morocco, which now has other partners. The relationship is no longer vital, neither for one nor the other. Finally, from a cyclical point of view, the recognition by the United States of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara has given wings to Rabat, which feels stronger and can tolerate France’s lukewarmness on the subject even less.