Morocco World News
Morocco World News
New York, September 5, 2012
The Algerian TV Ennahar created an unprecedented confusion on Wednesday when it displayed the picture of a former Moroccan Minister as being part of the new Algerian government.
Mohammed Mbarki, the former Moroccan Minister of Habitat during the Government of Abderrahman Youssefi (1998-2002), the former governor of Tetouan and current president of the Oriental region was believed to have been appointed Minister of Vocational and Educational Training in the new Algerian government announced on Wednesday.
Yet After verification, it appeared that the Algerian TV mistakenly displayed the picture of the former Moroccan minister.
“As soon as I read the news on Morocco World News, I contacted many colleagues and politicians who stressed that Mr. Mohammed Mbarki is still the president of the Oriental region, and the confusion was caused because of the similarity of the names of both personalities,” a Casablanca-based journalist, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity, told MWN.
The Algerian TV Ennahar displayed Mr. Mbarki’s photo as one of the newly appointed Ministers, and apparently pulled his photo from the internet without authenticating his name with the Algerian authorities.
The whole confusion appears to be related to the similarities of the Former Moroccan Minister Mr. Mohamed Mbarki with the newly appointed Algerian Minister of Vocational and Educational Training Mr. Mohamed Mebarki. Both names are totally similar in Arabic.
Moroccans did not believe this to be true and many wondered whether it was mistake made by the Algerian TV or its was done on purpose. Others said this might be a sheer coincidence, adding that there are many Moroccans who share the same names as Algerians.