Rachida Dati’s “unwelcome” trip to Western Sahara reflects the “detestable” action of a former colonial power, according to Algeria
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati has paid an official visit to disputed Western Sahara and inaugurated projects there amid France’s support for Morocco’s claims of sovereignty over the former Spanish colony.
In a statement on X early on Tuesday, Dati said she is in Morocco’s “southern province” to ensure the creation of a “French alliance,” which was announced during President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Rabat in October.
“This is the first time that a French minister has come to the southern provinces,” Dati told AFP, describing the visit as “historic.”
The minister, along with her Moroccan counterpart, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, launched a cultural mission in Laayoune, Western Sahara’s largest city and de facto capital, promising to open the territory’s first French culture center to “benefit” children, teachers, and students.
Dati also announced the inauguration of a “temporary” location for the new branch of the Higher Institute of Audiovisual and Cinema Professions in Dakhla, the capital of one of Western Sahara’s regions administered by Morocco.
According to her, “40 Moroccan and African students will be trained there in cinema professions.”
Morocco de facto controls around 80% of Western Sahara, which it annexed shortly after Spain gave up control over the desert territory in 1975. The claim has been a source of regional tension and a decades-long conflict between Rabat and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front. The separatist group has expressed support for a self-determination referendum, which was initially proposed by the UN in 1991 as part of a ceasefire agreement but has since stalled.
Rabat has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of a vote that would grant independence to the sparsely populated region, instead pushing for autonomy under Morocco.
Last July, Macron reversed his country’s decades-long diplomatic stance and endorsed the Kingdom’s controversial plan for Western Sahara, calling it the only viable route to resolving the territorial dispute.
The French decision has strained relations between Paris and Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front in demanding self-rule for the Sahrawi people. The North African nation has insisted that the stance by its former colonial power violates international law and UN efforts to decolonize Western Sahara.
On Tuesday, Algiers condemned the French culture minister’s “unwelcome” visit to Western Sahara, saying it reflects the “detestable image of a former colonial power in solidarity with a new one.”
