Academic warns of continued Moroccan-Egyptian tensions

A leading Moroccan academic warned on Friday of the “continued tensions” between Morocco and Egypt which erupted in the wake of TV reports.

Director of the Rabat Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, Khalid al-Samouni, stressed the need to “overcome the media rows and return to a situation or normalcy.” Al-Samouni reiterated that the prolonging of current “tensions” is not in the favour of either country.

“If the two countries boycotted each other, this would affect the unity of the Arab states,” Al-Samouni said; “and this would also affect key Arab issues.”

Meanwhile, Morocco’s ambassador to Cairo, Mohamed al-Alami, returned to Cairo on Thursday after a six day break.

On Thursday, minister of information in the Moroccan government, Mustapha El Khalfi, said: “There are several parties from various backgrounds who are trying to undermine the strong relationship between Rabat and Cairo.”

After the weekly meeting of the government El Khalfi said: “It is neither politically or morally acceptable to ignore the common bond in Moroccan-Egyptian relations and not to maintain it in the interest of both countries.”

El Khalfi confirmed that there are ongoing contacts between the two governments to end the current tensions and “promote” strong bilateral relations.