On September 8, a devastating magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Morocco.  The death toll stands at nearly 3,000, with a further 5,600 people injured and many thousands more impacted by the disaster.

On Monday 11 September, it was announced Morocco had accepted an offer of aid offer from four countries: Spain, United Kingdom, Emirates and Qatar.

Despite being among the first to offer assistance, one notable country absent from this list, is France.

In this Peace Research Institute blog, NCHS Co-director Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert (Research Director, PRIO) asks is this a form of reverse humanitarian diplomacy and how can this refusal best be understood?

Gabrielsen Jumbert argues that by “exercising this reverse humanitarian diplomacy, Morocco seeks control over its own crisis and crisis response – and sends a clear signal at the same time … [but] how humanitarian the measure is will depend on those you ask.”

Read the full blog here.

This blog was also published in the Spanish newspaper El Independiente and can be read in Spanish here: La respuesta de Marruecos a la ayuda humanitaria tras el terremoto: ¿Diplomacia humanitaria a la inversa? (elindependiente.com).