Phone Call between French President and The King Mohammed placed French-Moroccan relations above transient incidents

By African Bulletin on February 26, 2014

On February 24 King Mohammed VI’s office issued the following statement :”His Majesty King Mohammed VI received on Wednesday a telephone call from French President François Hollande.”

“In light of the clarifications provided in this regard, the two leaders agreed to continue contacts in the coming days at the level of the two governments, and work in the spirit of exceptional relations that bind Morocco and France,” the statement noted.

Therefore this telephone conversation between President Francois Hollande and King Mohammed VI, put an end to the diplomatic row between the two countries. “The president wanted to send a message of confidence and friendship to Morocco,” a French diplomatic source said after Monday’s telephone call. “The misunderstandings have been cleared up.”

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially played down the police action over the lawsuits as “regrettable”, but President Hollande stepped in personally after Morocco postponed a planned trip by his special envoy for the climate Nicola Hullot.

Morocco also reacted furiously to the announcement last Thursday of two lawsuits filed by an NGO against Abdellatif Hammouchi, the head of its domestic intelligence agency (DGST).

Hollande called the King, who is currently touring West Africa, to reassure him of France’s “constant friendship,” and “dispel the misunderstandings,” the French presidency said on Tuesday. He also underlined his desire to “strengthen the partnership between the two countries.”

Last Friday, Morocco summoned the French ambassador to reject the torture allegations and vigorously protest the lawsuits,France’s while describing the alleged comments by France’s diplomat as “scandalous and unacceptable.”

Morocco’s ambassador to France, Chakib Benmoussa, also held a meeting on Monday with French officials at the foreign ministry in Paris about the issue. The minister said there were “successive developments.”

Morocco’s “strong and quick reaction” was a sign that the kingdom will not tolerate “tampering with its dignity” by an ally. France is unlikely to jeopardize its ties with Morocco.

“It is a serious and unprecedented incident regarding the relationship between the two countries which could affect the climate of confidence and mutual respect between Morocco and France,” Morocco’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

France and Morocco enjoy powerful and historical relations and similar incidents could never jeopardize them. The legitimate question now is whose interest in the current geopolitical context to create such diplomatic spat between two strong allies?

Tensions have increased during the entire week because of some press reports related to the comments done by Spanish actor Javier Bardem supporting separatists. The French daily Le Monde quoted Bardem saying in a news conference in Paris on February 17 that a French ambassador had told him that “Morocco was a mistress with whom we sleep every night even if we aren’t especially in love with her, but that we must defend. In other words, we turn a blind eye.”

Moroccan Interior Minister Mustapha Khalfi described the alleged comments by France’s UN envoy as “scandalous and unacceptable,” saying they “hurt all Moroccans.”

Several thousand people demonstrated outside the French embassy, waving Moroccan flags, holding up pictures of the King Mohammed VI and chanting patriotic slogans.

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