BNN Bloomberg – Souhail Karam, Bloomberg News
Morocco sought to downplay a decision by its foreign ministry to suspend contact with Germany’s government over unspecified “deep misunderstandings.”
In an official letter to other ministries leaked on social media late on Monday, the foreign ministry said it had taken the decision because of issues of fundamental importance to the kingdom. A spokesperson, who confirmed the document’s authenticity, said the suspension covers the German embassy in Rabat, cooperation agencies and political foundations.
Less than 24 hours later, authorities appeared to qualify the announcement, saying it wasn’t a freeze of diplomatic relations nor a ban on German organizations from contacting their Moroccan counterparts, according to remarks from an unidentified Moroccan diplomat quoted on le360, a news portal that widely reflects the official line of thinking.
The official was quoted as saying the letter was the culmination of frustrations over a lack of progress on “geopolitical” front that matches the “exemplary cooperation on the economic, financial and social” arenas.
Morocco appears to have taken offense at German state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle airing last year of a short video questioning the kingdom’s human rights record as well as the rise of Abdellatif Hammouchi, a prominent security official linked to crackdowns on activists and journalists.
Then, when Donald Trump, during his last weeks as U.S. president, announced American recognition of Morocco’s assertion of sovereignty over the disputed the Western Sahara, it was Germany that called for a United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the move.
A German foreign ministry spokesman couldn’t immediately comment.
Germany is Morocco’s seventh-biggest trade partner. The government in Berlin lent the kingdom around $1.5 billion last year amid the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and its development bank KfW was key in financing an expansion into renewable energies.
It also took Morocco off a list of countries whose citizens may qualify for political asylum and almost secured the unconditional repatriation of irregular migrants of Moroccan nationality.
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