France on Wednesday renewed its unwavering support for the Morocco-proposed initiative offering a large autonomy to the Sahara provinces in a bid to settle definitely the Western Sahara artificial conflict. The support was reiterated by French Foreign Affairs Minister, Jean-Yves le Drian, at a meeting with the new UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara Horst Köhler in Paris on Wednesday (January 17). During the meeting, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is also Minister for Europe, reaffirmed to Horst Köhler France’s support to the Moroccan autonomy plan, insisting that the Moroccan initiative “constitutes a serious and credible basis” for a negotiated settlement of the Sahara issue. Paris had welcomed, last August, the appointment of Horst Köhler as Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sahara, and assured him of France’s “full support” in this mission. During his meeting Wednesday with Horst Köhler, the French Foreign Minister also recalled “France’s commitment to full compliance with the ceasefire agreements”.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 18, 2018 17:03 UTC