President Emmanuel Macron renewed French support for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara Tuesday and pledged French investment in the largely Moroccan-controlled but disputed territory, reports FRANCE 24.
Deals with Morocco involving Western Sahara have been a problem for European governments with the EU's top court earlier this month upholding the cancellation of trade deals allowing Morocco to export Sahrawi products to the bloc.
In an address to the Moroccan parliament on a three-day state visit, Macron said French companies "will support the development" of Western Sahara, whose "present and future" belong under "Moroccan sovereignty".
He pledged "investments and sustainable support initiatives to benefit local populations".
This comes a day after Paris and Rabat signed several deals – including on energy and infrastructure – with a total value of "up to 10 billion euros", official sources told AFP, though specific contract details were not disclosed.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is largely controlled by Morocco but the Algerian-backed Polisario Front has campaigned for its independence since before Spanish forces pulled out in 1975.
The United Nations considers Western Sahara a "non-self-governing territory" and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991 whose stated aim is to organise a referendum on the territory's future.
But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option.