France includes Western Sahara on maps of Morocco in textbooks
- The reaction of the Moroccan community
- France's support for the Moroccan plan
- The importance of recognition
- The Moroccan plan as a political solution
In a gesture that shows the reality of French Moroccan relations, French school textbooks will include Western Sahara as part of Moroccan holography, in a move that could have far-reaching implications.
The news was recently reported on French television: French school textbooks include the Sahara as part of Moroccan territory. In the new map that appears in the textbooks for the 2024/2025 school year, it stretches from Tangier to Lagouira in the far south of Morocco.
A month later, the complete map of the Alawite kingdom can also be seen in French school textbooks. Books with the complete map of Morocco are now available in bookshops, shopping centres and specialised outlets in most Moroccan cities.
The reaction of the Moroccan community
This was confirmed by citizens of the Moroccan community living abroad (MRE) in France, the largest in the world, who shared the images, which soon went viral in the Moroccan media, who saw it as part of the agreement to recognise the Western Sahara Autonomy Plan.
These gestures by French diplomacy, in this case, by the country's educational institutions, are part of the improving relationship between Morocco and France in recent months. Good relations between the two countries are key to the development of both, as Emmanuel Macron, President of France, explained in his declaration of recognition of the Sahara Autonomy Plan.
France's support for the Moroccan plan
“For France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework within which the situation must be resolved.” “Today, an increasingly broad international consensus is emerging”, were the words with which Macron made official France's support for the Moroccan plan.
“Our support for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007 is clear and constant”, said Macron, adding that this plan “is now the only basis for a just, lasting and negotiated political solution, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council”.
The importance of recognition
This recognition, which joins that of more than 100 countries, was warmly welcomed by King Mohammed VI. “I thank you for your warm wishes and your personal commitment to strengthening the partnership between our two countries. I am particularly pleased with the clear and firm position that France takes, in your message, on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara,” was the response of the Alaouite monarch.
Experts in political relations consider that the first step was taken in 2007 when the French nation recognised the Moroccan plan as the only ‘serious, credible and realistic’ solution to resolve the conflict.
For more than 17 years, diplomacy between the two countries has been moving closer together. While France's military exit in Africa was a coup in the region, it was a major decision in Morocco's interest. This political move, along with Spain's exit from the territory after 40 years, is considered by Morocco as one of the most important moments in the country's recent history.
The Moroccan plan as a political solution
“The Moroccan plan constitutes, from now on, the only basis for reaching a political, just, sustainable and negotiated solution, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council”, Macron stressed.
For the time being, despite several French media agencies criticising Morocco for its rejection of France's offer to help in the post-earthquake rescue operations, which will reach it’s one year anniversary in September, relations between the French press and Moroccan diplomacy have improved.
The French media are aware of the importance of this gesture for Rabat, as the Sahara issue is a top priority for the African country.
2024 will be a key year in the history of the two countries. Major economic, commercial and institutional agreements will be the result of more than 17 years of diplomatic dialogue between the two countries, which have no choice but to understand each other.