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The move would spell a diplomatic scandal: Morocco wants to break contact with the German embassy in Rabat, according to a report on the “Medias24” news website.
The portal cites a letter that Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita is said to have sent to the Moroccan government on Monday. According to “Medias24”, the letter apparently should be kept under lock and key. The internal letter was also made available to the Reuters news agency on Monday night.
“Any contact” with the German embassy, any “contact or cooperative action in all cases and in all forms” will be suspended, he says. The reason given in the unilateral letter was “deep misunderstandings” on “fundamental questions about the Kingdom of Morocco”.
As Reuters reports, citing a high-ranking Moroccan diplomat, the move is said to be based, among other things, on the federal government’s position on the territory of Western Sahara. Reuters quotes the diplomat as saying there was “contempt” in the way Germany reacted when the United States acknowledged Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara in December. In response to the US move, Germany had called a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Furthermore, there is said to be resentment on the Moroccan side that the country was not invited to an international conference on Libya.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not want to comment on the letter
Initially there was no official communication from the Moroccan side. According to the dpa news agency, the German embassy in Rabat could not be contacted at first. The Foreign Ministry initially declined to comment on the letter when asked by SPIEGEL. However, the reports were noted.
In the letter, the Moroccan authorities are asked to cut “all contact”, both with the German embassy in Rabat and with German organizations associated with the embassy. Exceptions would have to be explicitly approved by the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Federal Foreign Office describes relations with Morocco on the Internet as “traditionally close, friendly and free of tension”. Friedrich-Ebert-, Konrad-Adenauer- and Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung have their own offices in the country. The two countries also have strong economic and commercial ties.
