During much of the past several decades, Moroccan actions in Western Sahara have impacted on that country’s bilateral and multilateral ties, especially with other countries in Africa, though to a lesser degree in the Arab world. In recent years, Morocco has gained the upper hand in its conflict in Western Sahara and has been increasing its political and economic footprint on the continent of Africa, an area of interest since independence. At the same time, Morocco has regarded itself as a “gateway” to Africa for the USA and Europe, while the USA, France (and the Gulf states) have provided military and financial assistance as well as diplomatic support for Morocco as that country’s policies have served Western interests. While attention is given by academics in recent years to the involvement in Africa of other middle powers from the Middle East such as Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia and, in the past, of Nasser’s Egypt and Qaddafi’s Libya, as well as Israel, Morocco has not stirred the same sort of interest. This article seeks to address that issue by examining all political and economic factors that have influenced Moroccan policy toward Sub-Saharan Africa, those both connected and unconnected with the issue of the Western Sahara dispute.

在过去几十年的大部分时间里，摩洛哥在西撒哈拉的行动对该国的双边和多边关系产生了影响，尤其是与非洲其他国家的关系，尽管在阿拉伯世界影响较小。近年来，摩洛哥在西撒哈拉的冲突中占据了上风，并一直在增加其在非洲大陆的政治和经济足迹，这是自独立以来的一个利益地区。与此同时，摩洛哥将自己视为美国和欧洲通往非洲的“门户”，而美国、法国（以及海湾国家）则作为该国的政策向摩洛哥提供军事和财政援助以及外交支持。为西方利益服务。近年来，尽管学术界关注土耳其、伊朗和沙特阿拉伯等中东其他中等强国以及过去纳赛尔的埃及和卡扎菲的利比亚以及以色列等其他中等强国在非洲的参与，但摩洛哥已经没有激起同样的兴趣。本文试图通过研究影响摩洛哥对撒哈拉以南非洲政策的所有政治和经济因素来解决这个问题，这些因素与西撒哈拉争端问题有关或无关。