How Morocco deconstructed the fallacious justifications of Tunisian diplomacy (Round-up)

Tunisia has chosen to abandon its doctrine of positive neutrality vis-à-vis the question of the Moroccan Sahara. By deciding to receive the head of the Polisario militias, the Tunisian presidency confirms a hostile attitude towards Morocco already expressed on October 29 in the Security Council, when Tunisia abstained during the vote on resolution 2602 favorable to Morocco.

By inviting the leader of the Polisario militias to participate in the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8), which was held on August 27 and 28 in Tunis, and by giving him an official welcome, the Tunisian President has just compromised Tunisia’s historic neutrality on the Moroccan Sahara affair. “After having recently multiplied negative positions and acts with regard to the Kingdom of Morocco and its higher interests, Tunisia’s attitude within the framework of the TICAD process (Japan-Africa cooperation forum) confirms flagrant hostility,” said a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad.

Communiqué through which Morocco announced its decision not to participate in the Eighth TICAD Summit and to immediately recall for consultation the Ambassador of HM the King in Tunis. Tunisia, against Japan’s advice and in violation of the preparation process and established rules, decided unilaterally to invite the separatist entity, the statement added, noting that the welcome given by the Tunisian Head of State to the leader of the separatist militia is a serious and unprecedented act, which deeply hurts the feelings of the Moroccan people and their living forces.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, and in reaction to a press release published Friday evening by the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made it clear that “TICAD is not a meeting of the African Unionbut a framework of partnership between Japan and the African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations and it is therefore part of the African partnerships, as there are with China, India, Russia, Turkey or even the United States, and which are only open to African States recognized by the partner.

The ministry spokesperson also underlined “that it was agreed from the outset, and with Tunisia’s agreement, that only countries that have received an invitation co-signed by the Japanese Prime Minister and the Tunisian President will be able to take part in this meeting.. An official note verbale circulated by Japan on August 19, 2022, explicitly underlines that this co-signed invitation is “the only and authentic invitation without which no delegation will be authorized to participate in Ticad 8”, specifying that “this invitation does not ‘is not intended for the entity mentioned in the note verbale of August 10, 2022’, i.e. the separatist entity.

With regard to the substance of neutrality and the reference of the press release (from the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to “respect for United Nations resolutions” in relation to the Sahara issue, the ministry’s spokesman noted that ” Tunisia’s surprising and unexplained abstention from the adoption of Security Council resolution 2602 last October casts serious and legitimate doubt on its support for the political process and for United Nations resolutions”.

“Kaïs Saïed vassalizes Tunisia”

Tunisian journalist Chedly Mamoghli wrote in an article published on the “Kapitalis” news site that what Kaïs Saïed has done is unacceptable. Relaying the words of a Tunisian jurist, Mr. Mamoghli believes that “by doing so, he (Kaïs Saïed) makes Tunisia a vassal of Algeria“. And to recall that “the first foreign delegation received by Kaïs Saïed President, the very evening of his investiture on October 23, 2019, was a Moroccan delegation composed of the two presidents of the two Chambers of the Moroccan Parliament. Also, “during the Covid crisis, in the summer of 2021, the Moroccan Sovereign set up an airlift to set up a field hospital under the aegis of the Moroccan army, which was installed in Manouba”.

The journalist also recalls that “the King of Morocco, a very young Sovereign, reserved for Tunisia one of his first trips abroad. He returned in June 2014 and stayed for 10 days during which He walked the streets of Tunis and its suburbs”. “Must we also remember that His father Hassan II was a great friend of Tunisia? He who had declared live on French television, when Tunisian-Libyan relations were experiencing an unprecedented crisis, that if Gaddafi attacked Tunisia, he would send his army to stand alongside Tunisia, “we still read in the letter. article entitled “Kaïs Saïed destroys the historical relations between Morocco and Tunisia”.

“Reset Tunisian diplomacy”

In another article published on the same site, the journalist Sémia Zouari, who relays the words of a Tunisian diplomat, writes that “it is urgent to rectify the situation and reset Tunisian diplomacy”. Tunisia’s current foreign policy is imbued with “too much amateurism”, underlines the journalist. “While all Tunisians are proud of the friendship and solidarity between Tunisia and Algeria, they are also convinced that they must be preserved within the framework of mutual respect and not a satelliteization of Tunisia at the expense of its relations with another brotherly country”, we still read in the article entitled “Tunisia: we must save Kaïs Saïed from himself!”