MADRID 11 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The French Embassy in Morocco has announced that the ambassador, Christophe Lecourtier, began a visit this Monday to the region of Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco, in a gesture that the Moroccan press has highlighted as “historic” for endorsing the aspirations of sovereignty. of Rabat on the former Spanish colony.
Lecourtier plans to visit the cities of El Aaiún and Dakhla on a trip that began on November 11 and will end on the 13th of the same month. The diplomat travels accompanied by the chargé d’affaires of Culture, education and economic affairs, according to a note from the French Embassy.
“In line with the positions expressed by France and by President Emmanuel Macron during his recent official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco, this visit seeks to reach out to residents and local authorities, listen to and evaluate the challenges and needs of these regions and explore ways so that France supports its economic and social development for the benefit of the population,” the Embassy noted, according to Hespress.
Furthermore, the source highlighted that taking advantage of Lecourtier’s visit, the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Morocco has organized economic conferences in El Aaiún-Saguia el Hamra and in Dakhla-Ued Eddahab in which “fifty business leaders and officials will participate. with decision-making capacity of Morocco and France”.
This is the first visit by a French ambassador to the Western Sahara region and the second by a diplomatic representative of a world power after the then US ambassador in Rabat, David T. Fischer, visited Dakhla on January 10, 2021. , recalls the Moroccan portal Le360.
The gesture comes after France’s support for the autonomy plan presented by Rabat for the resolution of the Western Sahara dispute, underpinned by Macron’s three-day official visit to Morocco.
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum. The differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers have prevented it from being called so far.
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