The Diplomat
The Tunisian government has recalled its ambassador to Morocco for consultations in response to the similar measure previously taken by Rabat, which described as “serious” the reception offered on Friday to Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali by Tunisian President Kais Said to participate in a summit on African development in the Tunisian capital.
he Tunisian Foreign Ministry expressed its “astonishment” and considered that “there is no logical justification” for the Moroccan reaction, which on Friday recalled its ambassador to Tunis, Hassan Tarik, and suspended his participation in the summit, considering Gali’s presence as “a hostile attitude and detrimental to the fraternal relations that the two countries have always had”.
“While Tunisia affirms its will to preserve its friendly, fraternal and historical relations with the Moroccan people, it categorically rejects the comments contained in the Moroccan statement accusing our country of adopting an aggressive stance towards Morocco and harming Moroccan interests,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In the note, it describes as “fallacious” Morocco’s statements that Tunisia “unilaterally decided to invite the separatist entity” (SADR) to the eighth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) which is being held until tomorrow Sunday in Tunis with heads of government and state of the region.
Tunisia defended that it maintains “its complete neutrality on the question of Western Sahara, respecting international legitimacy” and that, “contrary to what is affirmed in the Moroccan communiqué”, the African Union, as the main participant, invited all its members, including SADR. Foreign Affairs added that the Saharawi Republic had previously participated in TICAD, both in Kenya in 2016 and in Japan in 2019, as well as in other regional meetings such as the African-European Summit.
