The Tunisian president’s reception to the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, unleashes the hostility of Rabat, who describes the invitation as “serious”
Tension between Tunisia and Morocco. Friday’s reception by the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, to the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, sowed the seeds of hostility in Rabat, who called the reception “serious” and for which he called his ambassador in Tunisia for consultation. A measure the Tunisian government later adopted in mutual reaction, after expressing its surprise at the Moroccan response in a statement, arguing that it is nothing new to Ghali – who advocates for the independence of Morocco-controlled Western Sahara – to invite to a summit that brings together representatives of Japan with African territories.
In this way, Saied’s team emphasized that the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) has already participated in the Tokyo Summit for African Development (TICAD) and other international fora, such as the Union Union meeting with the African Union in Brussels in February. . But this argument has not served Morocco.
Saied invited Ghali – president of the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) – to the meeting this weekend and received him at the airport on Friday. “It is a serious and unprecedented act, which deeply hurts the feelings of the Moroccan people,” the foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday. This reception is added, he added, to the fact that Tunisia had already “multiplied” its “negative” stances towards Rabat, an “hostility” that it now considers proven with the “unilateral” invitation to the Sahrawi leader. According to him, Tunisia had no right to set up a unilateral invitation procedure. For this reason, Morocco ultimately decided not to participate in the summit, as the invitation to Ghali “blatantly confirms its (Tunisia’s) hostility to the Kingdom.”
The controversy has not been alone. In protest at the presence of the leader of the Polisario Front, the President of Guinea-Bissau and the current President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Umaro Sissoco Embaló, left the summit, according to diplomatic sources gathered by the Moroccan agency MAP . His departure from the call, the news portal says, “strengthens the position of a large number of African countries, including Senegal, which regrets that this TICAD meeting was marked by the absence of Morocco, a prominent member of the African Union, in the absence of consensus on a matter of representation.
The issue of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, has confronted Morocco for decades with the Polisario Front, which is in turn supported by neighboring Algeria. From Saied’s government, they defended their “neutrality” in the Western Sahara conflict, a position they promised not to change until the parties reach an agreement. He also emphasized the historical friendly relations with the Moroccan people.
Rabat also replied on this point, expressing “serious and legitimate doubts about Tunisia’s support for the United Nations political process and resolutions” on Western Sahara, before criticizing Ghali’s official reception in “an act of hostility that so blatant and unnecessary” that “has nothing to do with the Tunisian tradition of hospitality”.
Source: La Verdad
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
