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Laurent Gayard: "Let's not sacrifice Rabat for Algiers"

2022-09-16T17:25:34.364Z


FIGAROVOX/TRIBUNE - Last August, Emmanuel Macron traveled to Algeria to meet his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. For Laurent Gayard, the revival of the Franco-Algerian dialogue should not be done to the detriment of neighboring countries, Morocco in the lead.


Laurent Gayard is a teacher and columnist for the Revue des Deux Mondes, the Revue Phébé, the Magazine Causeur and the Revue Conflits.

He published Geopolitics of the Darknet.

New frontiers and new uses of digital technology (ed. ISTE, 2018).

Emmanuel Macron's trip to Algeria from August 25 to 27 was invested – even overinvested – with particular importance by the Élysée and part of the French media.

Since the start of his first term, Emmanuel Macron has made Franco-Algerian reconciliation a personal matter.

But in doing so and for many observers, the French president allowed himself to be trapped in the memory trap and in the rhetoric of resentment, which has become the essential axis of Algerian foreign policy when it affects France.

To the point of dangerously neglecting other possible, and more fruitful, alliances in the region.

The process of memorial reconciliation is unlikely to succeed as long as the military retains such political influence in Algeria and it is in no way in the interest of the army or the Algerian government to bring this process to a successful conclusion.

In a context of energy crisis, caused by the deficiencies of the French nuclear fleet and by the war in Ukraine, the French executive imagines, with great naivety, being able to enter again into the game of memory blackmail, in the hope natural gas from Algiers can partly replace that from Moscow.

And with even more naivety, France strives to promote a very illusory strategic and security partnership with Algeria, which shares 1,329 and 951 kilometers of borders with Mali and Niger respectively,

where France has vital interests in the field of uranium mining and where Paris also intends to continue to fight against the spread of jihadism, despite the recent falling out with Mali.

This calculation is understandable but it also demonstrates the persistence of a strategic reflection still trapped in obsolete postcolonial schemes, the very ones that Algiers persists in exploiting to make the most of the double energy and memory rent.

If energy and security needs condemn France not to neglect Algiers, nothing forces it to disdain, in the name of its Algerian policy, other possible alliances in the region, and in particular that with Morocco.

uranium and where Paris also intends to continue to fight against the spread of jihadism, despite the recent falling out with Mali.

This calculation is understandable but it also demonstrates the persistence of a strategic reflection still trapped in obsolete postcolonial schemes, the very ones that Algiers persists in exploiting to make the most of the double energy and memory rent.

If energy and security needs condemn France not to neglect Algiers, nothing forces it to disdain, in the name of its Algerian policy, other possible alliances in the region, and in particular that with Morocco.

uranium and where Paris also intends to continue to fight against the spread of jihadism, despite the recent falling out with Mali.

This calculation is understandable but it also demonstrates the persistence of a strategic reflection still trapped in obsolete postcolonial schemes, the very ones that Algiers persists in exploiting to make the most of the double energy and memory rent.

If energy and security needs condemn France not to neglect Algiers, nothing forces it to disdain, in the name of its Algerian policy, other possible alliances in the region, and in particular that with Morocco.

a strategic reflection still trapped in obsolete postcolonial schemes, the very ones that Algiers persists in exploiting to make the most of the double energy and memory rent.

If energy and security needs condemn France not to neglect Algiers, nothing forces it to disdain, in the name of its Algerian policy, other possible alliances in the region, and in particular that with Morocco.

a strategic reflection still trapped in obsolete postcolonial schemes, the very ones that Algiers persists in exploiting to make the most of the double energy and memory rent.

If energy and security needs condemn France not to neglect Algiers, nothing forces it to disdain, in the name of its Algerian policy, other possible alliances in the region, and in particular that with Morocco.

Read alsoWhat French Algeria really was

The revival of the Franco-Algerian dialogue can respond to an emergency, that of gas, but it is not certain that it can be part of a long-term security and strategic issue.

The Algerian Republic has in fact continued to strengthen the already long-standing ties with Moscow, and the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on May 10 preceded that of Emmanuel Macron in August.

The strategic partnership with Russia, which remains Algiers' main supplier of arms, has been amply renewed, with, in particular, the organization of joint military exercises in the Sahara in November within the framework… of the fight against terrorism.

With the arrival of mercenaries from the Wagner agency in neighboring Mali, which the French troops had left,

at the request of the new military junta in power, it is nothing to say that despite the beautiful promises exchanged between Emmanuel Macron and Abdelmajid Tebboune, the French position is totally at the mercy of an Algerian reversal.

Military failures in Ukraine could also push Russia to further strengthen its presence in Africa and its cooperation with Algeria, to the detriment of the French.

With 3,500 kilometers of coastline, Morocco is the only country in Africa to have both an Atlantic and Mediterranean coast, and the policy of Mohamed VI is resolutely oriented towards the consolidation of Moroccan influence in Africa.

Laurent Gayard

Unlike Algeria, which is extremely ambivalent, Morocco is a historical ally of the West, and the expression is not in vain if we consider that the Cherifian kingdom, whose creation dates back to 789 AD.

JC, with the foundation of the city of Fez, which became the capital of the new kingdom in 791, was the first state to recognize the independence of the United States of America in 1777. The "special relationship" maintained between the United States States and Morocco is, in fact, almost as old as that maintained between the United Kingdom itself and its former colonies.

This historical fact, associated with the geographical reality, obviously makes Morocco a bridge between Africa, Europe and the transatlantic space.

With 3,500 kilometers of coastline, Morocco is the only country in Africa to have both

Some of these powers have understood this well and in the first place, Spain.

The two countries maintain a common land border, thanks to the enclaves of Ceuta and Melila on the Moroccan coast, but also a common maritime border since the Moroccan coasts are located only fourteen kilometers from the nearest point on the Spanish coast and from Parsley Island.

In 2002, Morocco's attempted annexation of the islet generated a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries, but things have changed a lot since then.

On March 20, Morocco's ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, declared that her country appreciated Spain's support for the Moroccan autonomy proposal for the Sahara

"in its fair value"

.

opened with regard to relations between the two countries.

Relations between the two nations have indeed improved to the point of being able to evoke a real diplomatic honeymoon between Madrid and Rabat.

By dint of wanting to bet too much on Algeria, France runs the risk of favoring alliances of convenience to the detriment of its credibility in the region.

It is important that Emmanuel Macron not be tempted to sacrifice Rabat for Algiers.

Laurent Gayard

Germany, another European power that maintains a historic relationship with Morocco, also seems determined to bet on this pivotal country of 446,000 square kilometers and 37 million inhabitants.

While Emmanuel Macron was in Algiers, Morocco received, at the same time, on August 27 and 28, the German Foreign Minister in Rabat.

"There is no permanent friendship, nor permanent hostility, only permanent interests"

, underlined, during the visit of Minister Annalena Baerbock, the editorialist of the newspaper

Al Akhbar

Rachid Niny, in August 27 and 28 edition.

"Because our country's relations with traditional allies are not an eternal teat that can be sucked on indefinitely"

, continues the editorialist, in a barely veiled allusion to the relationship of interdependence skilfully maintained by Algiers with regard to Paris.

Because Morocco has every reason to be sorry that Paris, unlike Madrid, Berlin, or even Washington, tends to seriously neglect Franco-Moroccan relations in favor of the problematic Franco-Algerian “friendship”.

In December 2021, Rabat had thus protested against the French decision to halve the number of visas granted to nationals of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, treated in the same way as its large Maghreb neighbor.

The Paris decision was a retaliatory measure in the face of difficulties in repatriating Maghreb nationals subject to deportation proceedings on French soil.

But

"Morocco has never refused to repatriate illegal immigrants, believes Chakib Benmoussa, Morocco's ambassador to France, but the French police often send him Algerian or Tunisian people whom he cannot take care of."

We should therefore consider the recent decision of the Moroccan authorities to suspend the consular pass of Imam Hassan Iquioussen, after the Council of State decided on his expulsion, as a way of protesting against a decision taken unilaterally, and without consult the Moroccan authorities.

In general, Morocco feels neglected and little supported by France, an overly ambivalent partner, in particular with regard to the burning issues of the management of migratory flows and the Sahara, at the heart of Algerian-Moroccan tensions, a French ambivalence which rather benefits its Algerian rival and from which Rabat would like to suffer less, in particular in view of the Arab summit in Algiers which will take place on November 1 and 2 and in which Mohamed VI has announced that he should nevertheless participate.

Relations between France and Morocco have certainly experienced ups and downs, and we will remember the cooling of relations between the two countries at the start of François Hollande's mandate.

However, Rabat has many strengths to put forward, of which powers other than France are more clearly aware: its political stability, the diversification and dynamism of an economy where the tertiary sector already plays a major role, as well as than the diplomatic recognition enjoyed by the kingdom.

By dint of wanting to bet too much on Algeria, France runs the risk of favoring alliances of convenience to the detriment of its credibility in the region.

It is therefore important that Emmanuel Macron, in his race for memorial reconciliation and energy security, not be tempted to sacrifice Rabat for Algiers.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-09-16

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