Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's political holiday in the Sahara

It is a symbolic visit lasting several days. For the future guest of the White House, who will take office in January, it is more important for his family to spend a few days in Dakhla than to open a consular office in the former Vila Cisneros. Trump recognised in December 2020 ‘Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara’ and promised to open a diplomatic relations office there. His successor Joe Biden did not abolish the recognition, but did not open a consulate. 

Sending his daughter and son-in-law on holiday to the Sahara is a decision by Donald Trump that is fraught with consequences. So much so that Jared Kushner is presented, at least by the official Moroccan press, as Assistant Secretary of State for the Maghreb and Near East (MENA). His somewhat controversial positions on the Palestinian question (Kushner proposes that the Palestinians be expelled from the Gaza Strip and sent to populate the Negev) make him well suited to lead US diplomacy vis-à-vis Israel. 

But some American sources believe that Donald Trump has other cards up his sleeve to pacify the region and satisfy not only the expansionist ambitions of Benjamin Netanyahu and his team of ultras, but also the pretensions of Washington's Arab allies in the region, mainly Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 

Although some Moroccan media close to the Palace Councillors suggest that the next US administration will label the Polisario Front a ‘terrorist organisation’, which is highly unlikely, the Royal Palace is keeping quiet about the tourist trip of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and King Mohammed VI, who is in Paris, has taken his son Mulay Hassan, the heir to the throne, with him, which excludes, at least for the moment, a meeting between the future King Hassan III and the American couple. 

The trip itself is a message from Donald Trump to Mohammed VI: we will do as promised. The United States is counting on Morocco for its projects in the Greater Middle East, which stretches from the Moroccan Atlantic to Afghanistan.