The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on Saturday to the statement from its Tunisian counterpart, denouncing the “many vindications and inaccuracies” of the Tunisian rebuttal.
Through its official spokesperson, the Moroccan Ministry said that what the Tunisian authorities have done represents a “hostile and deeply unfriendly act” towards “the first national cause and the higher interests of Morocco.”
The Ministry recalled that TICAD is not an African Union meeting, but a framework for partnership between Japan and African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, and Japan does not maintain diplomatic relations with the separatist polisario entity, which renders its presence unjustified and, unneeded.
TICAD, just like other international initiatives in the genre, where countries such as China, India, Russia, Turkey or the United States create conferences or summits with African states, is only open to countries recognized by the partner, so “the rules of the African Union and its framework, which Morocco fully respects, do not apply in this case.”
Tunisia, the host country of the conference, tried to justify the invitation it has itself sent to the “head” of the separatist militia, Brahim Ghali, against the advice of Japan, the organizing country, arguing that it is the African Union that has invited the representation of the separatists, not recognized by the international community, considering that it a member of the AU.
“The African Union as the main participant in the TICAD had issued a memorandum inviting all its members, including the polisario to participate in the TICAD,” had said the Tunisian Foreign Ministry.
According to Tunis, the invitation come in implementation of the decisions of the Executive Council of the African Union, at its meeting in Zambia on 14 and 15 July 2022, in the presence of the Moroccan delegation, where it was stressed the need to invite all members of the African Union.
However, the Moroccan Ministry maintains that this invitation remains unjustified, with the Kingdom adding that these explanations only “deepen” the “ambiguities surrounding the Tunisian position” on the Western Sahara.
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