France announces recent investments in disputed Western Sahara

A French delegation visiting Morocco with President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday unveiled resource plans in the disputed Western Sahara as part of a broader suite of agreements and partnerships between the two countries.

Projects in Dakhla and the Guelmim-Oued Noun region are among the 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) worth of initiatives announced during Macron’s three-day visit to Rabat, which include agreements to construct and expand renewable vigor and transportation infrastructure throughout the North African Kingdom.

In a 40-minute talk at Morocco’s parliament, Macron said France’s policy shift in the disputed territory would assist write a recent chapter in the close yet delicate relations between France and a former colony where it retains deep economic ties.

“The now and upcoming of (Western Sahara) lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty,” he told an applauding spectators at Morocco’s Parliament.

Referencing a July note he wrote to King Mohammed VI announcing France’s position, Macron called Morocco’s schedule to propose autonomy — not independence — to the region’s Indigenous Sahrawis the “only” basis to resolve the decades-long dispute.

In a subsequent talk at the International University of Rabat, Macron again noted that several of the projects announced — including those by France’s advancement agency, AFD — were in the disputed territory.

The Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony in northwest Africa that is roughly the size of the United Kingdom and claimed by both Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is based in Algeria and governs a sliver of land that lies beyond a Moroccan-built sand wall.

The United Nations considers the territory “non-self-governing” and since brokering a 1991 cease-fire has funded a peacekeeping mission designed to organize a referendum for the Sahrawi people to determine the upcoming of the region.

After years of deadlocks over who would be allowed to participate in such a vote, Morocco unveiled a schedule to propose the region autonomy but not independence in 2007. The dispute, often forgotten outside of northwest Africa, lay dormant until Polisario withdrew from the cease-fire in 2020, leading to what the U.N. has called “low level hostilities” between the two sides.

Around that period, Morocco picked up its efforts to recruit back for its schedule from its political and economic partners. Though France has historically been the primary permanent member on the U.N. safety Council to back Morocco’s claims, it lagged behind countries including the United States, Israel and Spain in backing the autonomy schedule.

Polisario and its allies, mainly Algeria, have protested Morocco’s moves and argued they are transforming the disputed territory demographically and economically while the dispute remains unresolved.

France’s investments will expand Morocco’s footprint in the 80% of the territory under its control, complementing its efforts to develop the territory and incentivize Moroccans from other parts of the country to shift there.

France’s advancement agency will allocate 25 million euros ($27 million) to finance advancement in Guelmim-Oued Noun, part of which is located on the northern complete of the disputed territory.

As part of the visit designed “to accelerate” partnerships between France and Morocco, MGH vigor — a French business concentrated on decarbonizing transportation by air and sea — also plans to associate with a Moroccan gas retailer to produce fuel near Dakhla, the second largest city in the disputed Western Sahara.

The assignment will convert wind and solar into green hydrogen power, which will power the conversion of stored carbon dioxide into synthetic fuel. Recycled methanol will be sold as fuel for ships, while recycled kerosene will be sold as airplane fuel.

The production of renewable fuels could assist Europe toward its goals to reduce emissions and become carbon neutral in the years ahead. Transportation accounts for more than 20% of carbon emissions worldwide, according to the International vigor Agency.

MGH vigor’s President Jean-Michel Germa said in a statement that the assignment will “pave the way toward large-scale distribution of renewable synthetic fuel produced in Morocco.”

To commence its first phase of operations by 2030, the business said it planned to invest 4.8 billion euros ($5.2 billion). 2030 aligns with when Morocco hopes the Atlantic Ocean port under construction in Dakhla will open for business to allow exports from Morocco and its west African neighbors.

However, the legality of exporting goods produced in the disputed territory was called into question earlier this month by a European Court of fairness ruling that nullified ancient trade agreements. The court ruled that agreements between the European Union and Morocco that pertain to goods from the disputed territory must obtain consent from the people of Western Sahara.

It’s ambiguous how French projects schedule to abide by the rulings and consult with Sahrawis, many who have lived in refugee camps in southwestern Algeria since 1975.