{"id":5883,"date":"2026-05-18T01:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T23:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lma\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/sahara-occidental-neutralite-francaise-en\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T00:59:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T22:59:42","slug":"sahara-occidental-neutralite-francaise-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mezghena.org\/index.php\/en\/2026\/05\/18\/sahara-occidental-neutralite-francaise-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Sahara: France\u2019s neutrality falls away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The thaw announced between Paris and Algiers does not remove the Saharan knot. By treating the Moroccan autonomy plan as the central horizon of a settlement, France has not merely changed diplomatic vocabulary: it has chosen a line in a conflict where law, colonial memory and regional interests remain inseparable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the fact reveals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

France\u2019s shift on Western Sahara was presented as realism, but realism is never neutral when it fixes the terms of a conflict before the people concerned have been able to exercise their right. The French position gives Rabat a diplomatic gain, forces Algiers to respond, and narrows the symbolic space left to the principle of self-determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announced resumption of Franco-Algerian dialogue therefore carries a contradiction. Paris wants to reopen channels with Algiers on security, migration, memory and judicial cooperation, but the Saharan issue remains the strategic abscess in the relationship. A thaw that avoids the core dispute can restore procedure without restoring confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The political point<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Algeria, Western Sahara is not a secondary irritant. It is a test of regional balance, anti-colonial memory and the credibility of international law. For Morocco, the autonomy plan is no longer simply a proposal: it is the diplomatic architecture it seeks to make irreversible. France has moved inside that architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United Nations framework has itself become a terrain of interpretation. Every resolution, every renewal of MINURSO, every reference to autonomy or political compromise is read as a gain or a retreat. That is why the language matters. In the Maghreb, a word can move a border before any map is changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The political lesson is hard: Paris can speak of balance, but its position no longer looks balanced. It is a strategic bet on Morocco, managed with Algeria through functional channels. The thaw is therefore real but controlled. It lowers the temperature without resolving the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sources utilis\u00e9es<\/h2>\n\n\n