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ALGIERS – APS.dz.- The Moroccan authorities have orchestrated a low-level media campaign against Tunisia and its institutions, following the participation of the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Brahim Ghali, in the eighth edition of the TICAD Summit, held in Tunis on 27-28 August.
This campaign has no basis whatsoever and is in total contradiction with previous meetings.
This denigration, motivated by internal considerations related to the successive failures suffered recently by Moroccan diplomacy in its efforts to impose its expansionist vision, including through the use of lies and intimidation, must be condemned in the strongest terms.
In this respect, it suffices to recall a few facts to demonstrate the incoherent nature of Morocco’s approach in having this time taken Tunisia as the target of its smear campaigns.
It is certainly not uninteresting to begin by pointing out that Morocco has joined the African Union, accepting the presence of SADR, which, it should be noted, is a founding member.
The Moroccan authorities signed and ratified the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which directly mentions SADR, and the law (dahir N 1-17-02 of 31 January 2017) published in the Kingdom’s Official Gazette includes the names and qualities of the signatories of the Constitutive Act of the AU, including the President of SADR.
Moreover, in his speech to the 28th AU summit on 31 January 2017, the King of Morocco solemnly pledged ‘not to divide Africa’, promising that ‘his action will be unifying’.
It is therefore appropriate to question Morocco’s evident will to exclude SADR, when the king had pledged to cooperate in a constructive and federative manner within the African family.
Why unfairly stigmatise Tunisia, as the host country of TICAD 8, when the King of Morocco participated in the EU-AU summit in Abidjan in 2017 with the participation of President Brahim Ghali, who was seated a few steps away from the King, just as Morocco also participated in the EU-AU summit in Brussels in the presence of the SADR president?
In fact, these contradictions are the sign of the erratic behaviour of a Moroccan diplomacy that has lost all credibility.
In the future, the Japanese authorities should show more respect for the member states of the African Union and its continental organisation. They should follow the example of the EU, which recognises that it is the AU’s responsibility to invite all its member states and that it should not try to pick and choose instead of Africans.
In short, those who think Tunisia is weak are very wrong. Tunisia is far from being weak, firstly because President Kais Said has the support of his people and, secondly, because all African countries that remain committed to respecting the principles and standards of our African institutions support him in his honourable and dignified position, which is in line with morality, law and the values of hospitality and the AU Charter.