Rabat also canceled a meeting scheduled for September with Josep Borrell due to his statements on the Sahara.
Morocco “immediately” recalled its ambassador to Tunisia for consultations after Tunisian President Kais Saied invited Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali to attend a summit on Japan-Africa cooperation.
“After having recently multiplied negative positions and acts with regard to the Kingdom of Morocco and its superior interests, Tunisia’s attitude within the framework of the TICAD (Forum for Japan-Africa Cooperation) process confirms blatantly its hostility,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Rabat has also decided not to participate in the 8th TICAD summit which is taking place this weekend. However, Nasser Bourita’s ministry clarified that this decision “does not call into question the Kingdom of Morocco’s attachment to the interests of Africa and its action with the
African Union, nor the Kingdom’s commitment within TICAD”.
The note also specifies that these events “in no way affect the strong and intact ties between the Moroccan and Tunisian peoples, united by a common history and a shared destiny” .
Tunisia, for its part, also reacted by recalling its ambassador to Rabat for consultations . The Foreign Ministry expressed a “categorical rejection” of the Moroccan statement, stressing its “refusal to interfere in internal affairs and the sovereignty of national decisions”, as reported by the Tunisie Afrique news agency.
Tunisia’s invitation to the Ghali comes just days after Morocco’s King Mohamed VI reiterated the Kingdom’s stance on the Sahara . “The Sahara issue is the prism through which Morocco looks at the world,” the monarch stressed, adding that he hopes that the other “partner countries that adopt ambiguous positions will clarify their positions on the Moroccan Sahara issue.”
Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch condemned “this act of hostility which goes against fraternity and friendship” , reports Le360: “We can only denounce this hostile and incomprehensible act by the Tunisian president against regard to the territorial integrity of Morocco”.
As he told Le360 magazine, Mr. Birou believes that “this is a provocative attitude that offends the feelings of 40 million Moroccans and is reprehensible, because it denotes a serious narrow-mindedness” .
Other political parties such as the Istiqlal also condemned Tunisia’s invitation to Ghali. “Today, the Tunisian president showed great frivolity in the management of Tunisia and its interests. This country is led by a man who is no longer in control of his decisions,” said one of the members of the executive committee, Aziz Hilali.
Moroccan media echoed the news, calling Tunisia’s action “a great betrayal of the Kingdom of Morocco”, as Rue20 writes. “With this negative Tunisian gesture, Kais Saied is destroying the excellent relations of friendship and cooperation that exist between Morocco and Tunisia”, adds the media.
Bourita cancels meeting with Borrell
The head of Moroccan diplomacy, Nasser Bourita, has canceled a meeting with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, scheduled for September.
The Spanish diplomat said in a recent interview with RTVE that the Spanish government’s position on the Western Sahara conflict is that of the EU, which consists of “defending the holding of a consultation so that the Saharawi people can decide on the how he wants his future .
Bourita spoke soon after, stressing that these statements were an “error of expression” that “does not reflect Spain’s or the EU’s position on the Sahara”.
