If the occasions were frequent recently to question the reasons for the French retreat in Africa, going so far as to oblige President Emmanuel Macron to decree the end of France-Africa, the time has come to question his perception of the issues policies in the Maghreb.
And it is clear that his vision and his political approach towards the Maghreb countries clearly lack coherence and logic. This explains the checkered relations that Paris has had lately with the capitals of the Maghreb. And this is what is causing the adrenaline rush on both sides of the Mediterranean.
With regard to Rabat first. French diplomacy lacks relevance when its spokespersons insist on the undeniably precious and strategic side of the relationship with Morocco and at the same time refrain from taking the only decision that could set the stability and prosperity of the country in stone. whole region.
This decision is the recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara. A decision taken by many great powers such as the United States of America, Spain or Germany and which seems, for obscure reasons, impossible to assume openly by French diplomacy.
Emmanuel Macron recently tried to burst the abscess by denying any involvement of the French government in the campaign of European denigration against Morocco, but his declarations and his positions rang in the ears of the Moroccan authorities as part of the Coué method, far from the reality of the tensions between Paris and Rabat. Especially since with regard to the Sahara, he stubbornly refuses to make the slightest change.
With regard to Algeria, it is not consistency that prevails either. Intoxicated by his Algerian tropism, fueled by his desire to achieve unprecedented performances in the memorial reconciliation between the two countries, Emmanuel Macron is betting all his bets on President Abdelmajid Tebboune and the current military regime he embodies, at the risk of appearing as his main support for a highly contested second term. Optical illusion or political reality, Emmanuel Macron appears as his only life insurance.
This positioning of Paris which passes by losses and crashes and the democratic ambitions of Hirak, the desires for change of the Algerian youth and the deaf oppositions, in particular within the Algerian army in the second mandate of Tebboune, were at the origin of the new crisis between Paris and Algiers, of which the Amira Bouraoui affair was only an external symptom of opportunity. By putting all his weight on Tebboune, Emmanuel Macron loses the essential distance to deal with this country and its demons.
With regard to Tunisia, Emmanuel Macron finds himself completely at odds with all the values of democracy, human rights and tolerance that he defends. He is currently covering the regime of Kais Saied, which distinguished itself by an institutional coup, autocratic behavior and a dictatorial takeover of Tunisian society.
These flagrant violations on the part of Kais Saied, his xenophobic and openly racist doctrines, should embarrass the French president and force him to reconsider his unconditional support for the Tunisian regime, especially since he offered to to be its main advocate within the international financial institutions.
There is clearly a lack of coherence in the French diplomatic approach with regard to this region of the Maghreb and its political issues. This vision of Paris in relation to this region south of the Mediterranean is today openly challenged by the political choices of these countries.
Morocco, in its desire to diversify its partnerships, causes bitterness within the French diplomatic circle. The Algerian regime is blackmailing Paris on the tone “either the army in power or chaos”, with the threat of unpinning the migration bomb, while Kais Saied’s Tunisia is taking advantage of these French hesitations to return to era of dictatorship so dear to the former president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, against which the Tunisians have already revolted.
If under the Russian and Chinese battering, one on the military level, the other on the economic level, Emmanuel Macron had to whistle the end of France-Africa, the three capitals of the Maghreb with their often antagonistic geostrategic ambitions , impose on French diplomacy a profound revision of its North African policy.
An essential French change which must bring together divergent interests to appease the dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean and participate in avoiding the rise of tensions and the probable explosions.