Moroccan Trade Minister Refuses to Speak French

Moroccan Minister of Industry and Trade Ryad Mezzour declined to speak French on Saturday when a journalist requested him to do so. A video of the incident, which occurred during the second edition of the African Conference on Health Risk Reduction held in Marrakesh on September 27-29, circulated widely on social media platforms. The video shows the French journalist asking Mezzour to speak in French, to which the minister responded that he preferred to communicate in Arabic, English, or Spanish. This stance comes a few days after an online campaign emerged calling for visa requirements for the French following Paris's tightening of visa issuance conditions for citizens of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, as well as a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron directed at Moroccans, which sparked controversy and discontent among them.