“This Royal Speech reflects all the work, determination and, of course, the ability of an entire people, thanks to the enlightened momentum and leadership of His Sovereign, towards the assertion of a Morocco that has now become a force to be reckoned with in the concert of great States,” Heydt told MAP.

Author of several works on the Kingdom, including the most recent “Le Sahara marocain, Terre de lumière et d'avenir” (The Moroccan Sahara, Land of Light and Future), he said that during his many visits and observations in the southern provinces, he has been able to gauge what the Sovereign means when He speaks of “our sons and daughters in the Sahara,” and when He recalls their “unwavering loyalty to their homeland, their attachment attachment to their sacred and national values, and the sacrifices they make to ensure the Kingdom’s stability and territorial integrity.”

The academic considers “the Sahara’s return to its Mother Country is the fruit of an exemplary and constant effort that the international community cannot forget and the latest French position, notably that of President Emmanuel Macron, not only rectifies the errors of the past, but also corroborates the legal, political, historical and spiritual reality that constitutes the legitimacy of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.”

In this respect, the French-Swiss academic underlined “the social, economic and cultural development dynamics at work in the Moroccan Sahara”, noting that “the enlightened approach initiated by HM King Mohammed VI goes beyond mere national interests to embrace a continental dimension”.

This, he added, has deliberately become an axis of communication and exchange between Morocco and its African depths,” wondering ”which state in the world has offered something as vital as access for the countries of the Sahel to the Atlantic Ocean?”