Tunisia He called this Saturday for consultations with his ambassador in Rabat due to the crisis unleashed with the official reception of the president of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)Brahim Gali, on behalf of the Tunisian head of state, Kais Said, to participate in a summit on the development of Africa in the Tunisian capital.
The Tunisian Foreign Ministry expressed his “astonishment” and considered that “there is no logical justification” for the Moroccan reaction, which this Friday called its ambassador to Tunisia, Hassan Tarik, and suspended his participation in the summit, considering Gali’s presence as “a hostile and detrimental attitude to the fraternal relations that the two countries have always had “.
“While Tunisia claims its will to preserve its friendly, fraternal and historical relations with the Moroccan peoplecategorically rejects the comments contained in the Moroccan statement accusing our country of adopting an aggressive stance towards Morocco and harming Moroccan interests,” Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
In the note, describes as “fallacies” the declarations of Morocco that assured that Tunisia “unilaterally decided to invite the separatist entity” (SADR) in the eighth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) that is being held until tomorrow Sunday in Tunis with heads of Government and State region of.
Tunisia argued that maintains “its complete neutrality on the issue of Western Sahara respecting international legitimacy” and that, “contrary to what was stated in the Moroccan statement”, the African Union, as the main participant, invited all its members, including the 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.
Morocco returned to the African Union in 2017, an organization that it left three decades earlier due to the entry of the SADR as a member.
On the issue of Western Sahara, in force since 1975 and pending decolonization, Morocco defends a plan for autonomy within its borders, which it proposed in 2007 to the UN, while the Polisario Front calls for holding a self-determination referendum with the option of independence.
Rabat has opted in recent years for a more aggressive diplomatic line in defense of its sovereignty over the former Spanish colony.