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French President Macron to visit Morocco from October 28 to 30

Moroccan King Mohammed sees the visit as an opportunity for "a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors"

Published: Mon 21 Oct 2024, 5:51 PM

Updated: Mon 21 Oct 2024, 5:52 PM

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  • AFP

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Tourists visit Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Morocco next week for a three-day state visit. — AFP

Tourists visit Yasmina lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco on October 20, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Morocco next week for a three-day state visit. — AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Morocco next week for a three-day state visit, the Moroccan royal palace said on Monday, following years of strained relations.

"This visit reflects the depth of bilateral relations based on a deep-rooted and solid partnership," the palace said.

Macron, who will arrive on October 28, was invited to the country by Moroccan King Mohammed VI in late September.

The monarch had called the visit — the second since 2018 — an opportunity for "a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors".

Tensions between the two countries have risen in recent years over France's ambiguous stance on the disputed Western Sahara region.

The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which in 2020 declared a "self-defence war" and seeks the territory's independence.

Macron in July eased tensions between the countries, saying Morocco's autonomy plan for the territory was the "only basis" to resolve the decades-old conflict.

"The present and future of Western Sahara are part of Moroccan sovereignty," the statement had said.

France's diplomatic turnabout had been awaited by Morocco, whose annexation of Western Sahara had already been recognised by the United States in return for Rabat's normalising ties with Israel in 2020.

The United Nations considers Western Sahara a "non-self-governing territory" and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991 whose stated aim is to organise a referendum on the territory's future.

But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option.

The Polisario Front is backed by Moroccan arch-rival Algeria, which promptly withdrawn its ambassador to Paris and has yet to replace him following Macron's statement endorsing Morocco's autonomy plan.



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