Paris, 12 September 2024 (SPS) - Michèle Decaster, the Secretary General of the French Association of Friendship and Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa (AFASPA), criticized French President Emmanuel Macron's support for Morocco's so-called autonomy plan for Western Sahara, stating that not only does "Macron not break with France's colonial history," but he "also serves the commercial interests of business circles."
"The French policy is heavily marked by a colonial past of nearly two hundred years," she recalled in a contribution published by the newspaper "L'Humanité," emphasizing that "decidedly, universal values do not seem to be applicable to all peoples."
In a letter addressed to the King of Morocco in July, President Macron stated that he considers "the present and future of Western Sahara to fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty."
According to this activist, "the president (of France), who seems to govern as if navigating by sight, is attempting to counteract France's loss of influence in Africa." She argued that it is "time for colonialism, as well as its neocolonial variant, to be abolished in the 21st century."
The French president’s official stance, she continued, "aids Mohamed VI in his quest for support for the illegal occupation of the neighboring country, from which the kingdom profits from the riches of the land, subsoil, and ocean since the ceasefire in 1991."
The AFASPA Secretary noted that "business circles are celebrating the expected benefits on the Moroccan market and the potential of the largely untapped mineral wealth in the Sahrawi subsoil."
Expressing outrage at France's increased support for the alleged Moroccan plan for Western Sahara, Michèle Decaster asserted that "the king has never doubted France, which provides support at the UN Security Council during each renewal of the mandate for the United Nations mission to organize a referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), carefully ensuring for 33 years that human rights are not included in its missions." She recalled that her country has also "militarily fought against the Sahrawi people."
"In 1912, by destroying the city of Smara and its library, which contained 5,000 documents; in 1958 with the 'Ecouvillon' operation alongside Franco's Spain; and in 1977 and 1978 with the 'Lamantin' operation that bombed the Sahrawi Popular Liberation Army," she indicated.
Furthermore, "French military advisors contributed in 1986 to the construction of the Moroccan defense wall, a 2,700 km long structure riddled with mines, which scars Western Sahara from north to south," she added.
Speaking about the total de facto ban on foreign observers and journalists entering the territory of Western Sahara, the head of AFASPA specified that "since January 2014, 296 individuals, from 21 countries and 4 continents, have been expelled by the Moroccan authorities."