MPs Elsa Faucillon and Jean-Paul Lecoq questioned the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Frédérique Vidal, about two research agreements signed illegally by the IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement) with the Kingdom of Morocco.

The first research agreement, signed by the IRD PALOC laboratory in May 2018, concerns archaeological explorations in the Smara region. The second agreement was signed in February 2020 by UMR 226 ISE-M, based in Montpellier, and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Rabat and concerns research on a wetland located in the Dakhla region. These two sites are in the part of Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation.

The existence of these agreements had been revealed by our observatory in July 2020 and they had been obtained in May 2021 thanks to referral to the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA).

Letter to Minister Le Drian: 22-03-07 – IRD – courrier au Ministre des EAE

Letter to Minister Vidal:22-03-07 – IRD – courrier à Ministre de l’ESRI

A letter was also sent to the President of the IRD, Valérie Verdier:22-03-07 – IRD – courrier à Présidente de l’IRD