Casablanca — Former Istiqlal Party Secretary Generals M’hamed Boucette, Mr. Abbas El Fassi, and 40 other former and current party officials have issued a joint statement against Hamid Chabat.
Chabat caused an uproar last week after he delivered a partisan speech stating that “Mauritania lays on Moroccan soil and it is a land that is purely Moroccan.” The statement further strained Morocco-Mauritanian relations and led the ministry of foreign affairs to release a statement defending Mauritania’s territorial integrity.
The statement also prompted King Mohammed VI to call the Mauritanian president to discuss bilateral relations and Head of Government Abdelilah Benkirane to travel to Mauritania in an attempt to smooth out tensions.
Now, former Istiqlal leader M’hamed Boucetta and former PM Abbas El Fassi, along with 40 others, have issued a statement in Arabic saying that “Mr. Hamid Chabat has proved that he is not qualified nor able to continue to carry the responsibility of the general secretariat of the Independence Party.”
“The Independence Party’s former secretary-general, Mr. M’hamed Boucetta and Mr. Abbas El Fassi, as well as professors Abdelkrim Ghallab and M’Hamed Khalipha, as well as other leading former and current executive committee officials […] consider that the recent irresponsible remarks of Mr. Hamid Chabat, secretary general of the Independence Party, regarding the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, don’t reflect the party at all,” the statement continues. “The statement reflects Chabat’s personal views and have nothing to do with the principles of the party.
The statement went on to reiterate the strong bonds of brotherhood between Morocco and Mauritania, which are deeply rooted in the conscience of both peoples.
The signatories of the statement also suggest that Chabat’s statements have provided enemies of both countries with grounds on which to pit the two against each other. Chabat’s statements, they say, “were made while Moroccan political parties were conducting negotiations to form a government following the October 7 elections,” adding that “these statements were exploited by the enemies of our territorial integrity, and the enemies of the two brotherly peoples of Mauritania and Morocco, to serve their agenda.”
The statement further went on to commend the measures taken by the monarch and the prime minister to defuse tensions caused by Chabat’s statements, which do not reflect Morocco’s position.
