![Leaders pose for a family photo before the opening session of the 4th Arab-African Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on November 23 2016 [Pool / Egyptian Presidency/Anadolu]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/2016_11_23-Leaders-pose-for-a-family-photo-before-the-opening-session-of-the-4th-Arab-African-Summit-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarallah said his country could not withdraw from the African-Arab summit earlier this month because it had to hand over the presidency to Mauritania.
“Kuwait, as co-chairman of the third summit, had a great responsibility to hand over the chairmanship to Mauritania in the fourth summit,” Al-Jarallah told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony organised by the UAE embassy in Kuwait, adding that his country has unlimited support for Morocco in the Western Sahara conflict.
“Kuwait has a great responsibility in the African-Arab cooperation in this summit, and we appreciate Equatorial Guinea’s efforts, which hosted the summit by not inviting the Polisario Front in recognition of the Arab and Morocco position towards the conflict,” he said.
“We hoped none of these problems would occur, but in the end we support and stand with our brothers in Morocco,” Al-Jarallah added.
Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Somalia and Yemen withdrew from the fourth African-Arab Summit held in Equatorial Guinea’s capital, Malabo, which concluded on 23 November, in protest against the presence of a delegation from the Polisario.A statement released by Morocco’s foreign ministry thanked the eight Arab countries that withdrew and deplored Kuwait for not following suit.