Rabat recalls its ambassador after Tunisian President Kais Saied receives Brahim Ghali of Polisario Front that is seeking independence for Western Sahara, a disputed territory Morocco regards as its own.
Morocco has recalled its ambassador to Tunis for consultations and cancelled its participation in a pan-African investment conference after Tunisia's president hosted the head of the Polisario movement.
In a statement on Friday, Morocco's Foreign Ministry said the move was "hostile and prejudicial to the fraternal relations that the two countries have always maintained" and that it would "immediately" recall its ambassador and withdraw from the TICAD summit.
"The welcome rolled out by the Tunisian head of state for the head of a separatist movement (Polisario chief Brahim Ghali) is a grave and unique act that deeply hurts the feelings of the Moroccan people," it said.
"Tunisia, against the advice of Japan and in violation of the process of preparation and established rules, decided unilaterally to invite" the Polisario, it said.
It also accused Tunisia of having recently "multiplied negative positions" against Morocco, and that its decision to host Ghali "confirms its hostility in a blatant way".
The Polisario wants an independent state in Western Sahara, a vast stretch of strategically valuable, mineral-rich desert Morocco sees as a sovereign part of its own territory. Rabat, which controls 80 percent of the disputed region, has said it can grant autonomy to the region within the Moroccan sovereignty.
Polisario Front, which is politically backed by Algeria and controls 20 percent of Western Sahara, seeks complete independence.
Polisario chief Ghali met with President Kais Saied after arriving in Tunisia on Friday to attend the Japanese-African investment conference TICAD.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, who is currently chair of the African Union, is scheduled to speak. The African Union recognises Western Sahara as a member but African states are split over both the Polisario and the territory's independence.
Tunisia has this year grown closer to Algeria, its most populous neighbour and one upon which it relies for energy, with Saied meeting Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in July.
Source: AFP
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