Mohammed VI had to give up going to Dakar on Wednesday, February 22 because of the flu which prevents him from traveling, according to the palace. He observes a period of rest in Gabon, where he has been staying for the past few weeks.
The 59-year-old monarch “has contracted the flu, and for this reason, his personal doctor has recommended that the sovereign observe a period of rest and avoid traveling for a few days”, the Royal Household said in a statement. communicated. According to the Senegalese government, Mohammed VI was expected this Wednesday, February 22 in Dakar for a three-day official visit.
Moroccan sources have also confirmed that the king, who has been staying in Gabon for the past few weeks, is being treated there. They indicate that the flu from which he suffers is not particularly serious and that the official communication was justified above all by the need to explain the absence of Mohammed VI in Dakar, where his arrival was officially scheduled. And where he had to, as he did very recently in Gabon, announce the donation of large quantities of fertilizer offered by the kingdom to his Senegalese partner.
Partnerships with several countries on the continent
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita had also arrived in the Senegalese capital on Tuesday to accompany the king during his trip, according to a tweet from his Senegalese counterpart Aïssata Tall Sall . Since the 2010s, Mohammed VI has forged diplomatic and economic partnerships with several countries on the African continent, where he has traveled extensively.
The state of health of the Alaouite monarch is closely monitored by Moroccans and beyond the borders of the kingdom. He tested positive for Covid-19, in an asymptomatic form, last June. A year earlier, he had undergone heart surgery at the clinic of the royal palace in Rabat, after a first intervention in January 2018 in Paris.
