Morocco officially approves Germany's appointment of new ambassador

Morocco officially approved on Wednesday Robert Dolger as the new German ambassador to Rabat after the two states mended relations.

Meanwhile, Morocco’s ambassador to Germany, Zhour Alaoui, will soon return to Berlin.

These decisions follows Berlin expressing support for Rabat’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which the German foreign ministry described as an “important contribution” to finding a political solution to the dispute.

Robert Dolger previously held power positions in Burkina Faso in the mid-1990s. He further headed the Middle East department in the German Foreign Ministry, as well as the Lebanon Crisis Unit in the same ministry.

Between 2015 and 2018, the newly appointed ambassador worked as Plenipotentiary Minister at the German Embassy in Ankara.

In addition to a number of diplomatic duties in European and Asian countries, he previously served as First Secretary in the Permanent Mission to NATO.In March of last year, Morocco’s foreign ministry suspended all contact with the German embassy in Rabat in March due to Berlin’s position over Western Sahara.

Germany, during the diplomatic crisis, also tried to exclude Morocco from the peace process for Libya. Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, reacted and highlighted Morocco’s key role in the Libyan conflict, saying that “North Africa has its own context and its own dynamics (…) Morocco knows these dynamics and that is why its contribution is first and foremost to support the Libyans.”

As ties improve between the two countries, Morocco and Germany are set to begin a “new phase” of bilateral relations, which have dated since 1956 and put behind months of suspended relations.

Following a virtual meeting on February, Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita, and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, expressed their interest in working on a “great and close relations, so as to launch a new dialogue aimed at overcoming the previous misunderstanding.”