King Mohammed VI invited the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to come “to talk” in Morocco, in the absence of being able to do so during the Arab League summit in Algiers, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said.
This invitation, which is not new, comes after the Moroccan sovereign resigned from participating in the summit of Arab leaders that is being held until Wednesday in the Algerian capital.
It is framed in a context of acute crisis between the two enemy brothers of the Maghreb after the rupture of their diplomatic relations in August 2021, at the initiative of Algiers denouncing “hostile acts” by its neighbor.
The security cooperation established by the Moroccan neighbor with Israel after the normalization of their relations in December 2020 has sharpened tensions between Algiers and Rabat, already heightened by deep disagreements over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
An unanswered invitation
Mohammed VI had announced in recent days his intention to go to Algiers, where he had been invited as Moroccan head of state by President Tebboune. But “no confirmation came through the available channels” after the Moroccan delegation in Algiers inquired about the planned arrangements to receive the sovereign Cherifian, explained Nasser Bourita.
The head of Moroccan diplomacy lamented that “there was no response through the appropriate channels.”
For his part, in an interview with a Saudi news channel, the Algerian Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, lamented on Monday a “missed opportunity” when referring to the absence of the Moroccan head of state.
Source: BFM TV
