Tunisia responds to Morocco by also calling its ambassador in Rabat for consultations

Surprised by the Moroccan reprimand, the Tunisian Government defends that it is neutral in Western Sahara

27 (EUROPE PRESS)

The Government of Tunisia has called its ambassador to Morocco for consultations in response to the similar measure previously adopted from Rabat, which he described as “serious” the reception offered on Friday to the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.

The Tunisian Foreign Ministry has expressed in a statement its surprise at the Moroccan reaction, arguing that the invitation to Ghali a summit that brings together representatives of Japan with African countries is nothing new.

Thus, he recalled that the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) has already attended the Tokyo Summit for African Development (TICAD) and other international forums, such as the meeting between the European Union and the African Union held in February in Brussels.

Morocco has replied that, according to the established norms, Tunisia did not have the right to establish a unilateral invitation process and that a note verbale from Japan did not include Ghali among the guests, according to a foreign statement.

The Tunisian government has defended its “neutrality” in the conflict over Western Sahara, a position that it has promised will not change until the parties reach some kind of agreement. He also recalled the historical friendly relations with the Moroccan people.

Rabat also replied to this, expressing “serious and legitimate doubts about Tunisia’s support for the political process and the United Nations resolutions” on Western Sahara, before criticizing the official reception of Ghali as “an act of hostility as flagrant as gratuitous” that “has nothing to do with the Tunisian tradition of hospitality”.

GHALI’S VISIT TO TUNISIA

Tunisian President Kais Saied invited Ghali to the meeting this weekend and went to meet 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.

This reception is added, according to Rabat, to the fact that Tunisia had already “multiplied” its “negative” positions towards Morocco, a “hostility” that it now considers proven with the “unilateral” invitation to the president of the SADR.