France announces new investments in disputed Western Sahara

A French delegation visiting Morocco with President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday unveiled investment plans in the disputed Western Sahara as part of a broader suite of agreements and partnerships between the two countries.

Projects in Dakhla and the Guelmim-Oued Noun region are among the 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) worth of initiatives announced during Macron's three-day visit to Rabat, which include agreements to build and expand renewable energy and transportation infrastructure throughout the North African Kingdom.

In a 40-minute speech at Morocco's parliament, Macron said France's policy shift in the disputed territory would help write a new chapter in the close yet delicate relations between France and a former colony where it retains deep economic ties.

“The present and future of (Western Sahara) lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty,” he told an applauding audience at Morocco’s Parliament.

Referencing a July letter he wrote to King Mohammed VI announcing France’s position, Macron called Morocco’s plan to offer autonomy — not independence — to the region’s Indigenous Sahrawis the “only” basis to resolve the decades-long conflict.

In a subsequent speech at the International University of Rabat, Macron again noted that several of the projects announced — including those by France's development agency, AFD — were in the disputed territory.

The Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony in northwest Africa that is roughly the size of the United Kingdom and claimed by both Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is based in Algeria and governs a sliver of land that lies beyond a Moroccan-built sand wall.

The United Nations considers the territory “non-self-governing” and since brokering a 1991 cease-fire has funded a peacekeeping mission designed to organize a referendum for the Sahrawi people to determine the future of the region.

After years of deadlocks over who would be allowed to participate in such a vote, Morocco unveiled a plan to offer the region autonomy but not independence in 2007. The conflict, often forgotten outside of northwest Africa, lay dormant until Polisario withdrew from the cease-fire in 2020, leading to what the U.N. has called “low level hostilities” between the two sides.

Around that time, Morocco picked up its efforts to recruit support for its plan from its political and economic partners. Though France has historically been the primary permanent member on the U.N. Security Council to back Morocco’s claims, it lagged behind countries including the United States, Israel and Spain in backing the autonomy plan.

Polisario and its allies, mainly Algeria, have protested Morocco's moves and argued they are transforming the disputed territory demographically and economically while the conflict remains unresolved.

France's investments will expand Morocco's footprint in the 80% of the territory under its control, complementing its efforts to develop the territory and incentivize Moroccans from other parts of the country to move there.

France's development agency will allocate 25 million euros ($27 million) to finance development in Guelmim-Oued Noun, part of which is located on the northern end of the disputed territory.

As part of the visit designed “to accelerate” partnerships between France and Morocco, MGH Energy — a French company focused on decarbonizing transportation by air and sea — also plans to partner with a Moroccan gas retailer to produce fuel near Dakhla, the second largest city in the disputed Western Sahara.

The project will convert wind and solar into green hydrogen power, which will power the conversion of stored carbon dioxide into synthetic fuel. Recycled methanol will be sold as fuel for ships, while recycled kerosene will be sold as airplane fuel.

The production of renewable fuels could help Europe toward its goals to reduce emissions and become carbon neutral in the years ahead. Transportation accounts for more than 20% of carbon emissions worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency.

MGH Energy's President Jean-Michel Germa said in a statement that the project will “pave the way toward large-scale distribution of renewable synthetic fuel produced in Morocco."

To begin its first phase of operations by 2030, the company said it planned to invest 4.8 billion euros ($5.2 billion). 2030 aligns with when Morocco hopes the Atlantic Ocean port under construction in Dakhla will open for business to allow exports from Morocco and its west African neighbors.

However, the legality of exporting goods produced in the disputed territory was called into question earlier this month by a European Court of Justice ruling that nullified old trade agreements. The court ruled that agreements between the European Union and Morocco that pertain to goods from the disputed territory must obtain consent from the people of Western Sahara.

It's unclear how French projects plan to abide by the rulings and consult with Sahrawis, many who have lived in refugee camps in southwestern Algeria since 1975.