Moroccan Ahmed Raissouni, president of the International Union of Muslim Ulemas recently sparked controversy across North Africa, after stating that Mauritania’s existence is “a mistake.”
During a recent interview, Raissouni commented on the geo-political differences between Morocco and neighboring Algeria, saying: “I am a supporter of the idea defended by Allal El Fassi. Morocco must recover its historical borders. Before the European colonization, Mauritania was an integral part of Morocco.”
Cheikh Raissouni believes that the Sahara and Mauritania issue “was created by the colonizers,” but since Morocco recognized the Mauritanian state, the issue is “left to history” to say its final word in the future.
The Parliamentary Group for Mauritanian-Moroccan Friendship in Mauritania considered that Raissouni’s provocative statements went too far, insulting their country, and “are outside the context of respect and consolidation of relations between the two countries.”
“They deny the simplest values of brotherhood and neighborliness and the ABCs of diplomacy and the discourse of dignity,” added Zineb El-Taqi, President of the Mauritanian parliamentary group in a recent press release.
El-Taqi included in the press release that Raissouni should “apologize to the two brotherly peoples for offending them together, damaging the official and popular efforts in fraternal relations to the peak of positivity and bilateral and regional cooperation.”
The National Rally for Reform and Development in Nouakchott, surprised by the income of the interview, denounced Raissouni’s statements, asking him to “withdraw them immediately and expressly apologize.”
The Algerian Peace Society Movement qualified the statement as a “dangerous and resounding fall” and that a person in Raissouni’s position “is supposed to resort to legal balances and Islamic values, not to call for sedition and to fight among Muslims, according to what he called “jihad with money and soul.”
The movement believed that those kinds of statements shouldn’t come out “within the tense international and regional conditions that cannot bear such outputs that inflame the flames of sedition.”
Abdelkader Bengrina, President of the Algerian movement El Binaa stressed that the statements of Raissouni have shocked the feelings of Algerians, and many people of the Maghreb region.
Bengrina pointed to the statement qualifying it as an “arrogant speech” and “irresponsible style” of the president of the UIOM adding that “The repeated infringement of Moroccan symbols on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Algeria is recurrent.”
“He has the right to express a personal opinion with full respect and appreciation for himself and others, but this is not the opinion of the coalition,” the UIOM religious entity said in a statement on Monday to defend Raissouni’s position, noting that he led the organization since November 2018.
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