Will France, Morocco's shift onto more common ground ease France's relationships in Sahelian crisis?

French President Emmanuel Macron is in Morocco where he is expected to meet with the North African kingdom’s leaders and discuss partnerships regarding trade, climate change and immigration. It comes months after Macron changed France’s longstanding public position and backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara. The move endeared the country to Morocco and alienated it from Algeria, which hosts refugee camps governed by the pro-independence Polisario Front and has long pushed for a UN-organized referendum to solve the conflict. In the days leading up to the visit, Moroccan publications lauded the “warm reunion” and a “new honeymoon” between the two countries while French flags were hung throughout Rabat. FRANCE 24’s Carys Garland is joined by Paul Melly, Chatham House Consulting Fellow for the Africa Programme & Reporter / Researcher on the Sahel, West Africa and Madagascar.