Casablanca – Former Istiqlal Party Secretary General Mhamed Boucetta has called on current party leader Hamid Chabat to leave the party.
The former Istiqlal leader, who oversaw the party from 1974 until 1998, tells Le360 that he would like Chabat to quit from the position he currently holds as the party leader.
Last week, Chabat caused uproar in Mauritania when he said during a speech that “Mauritania lays on Moroccan soil and it is a land that is purely Moroccan,” which only served to further strain already tense relations between Morocco and Mauritania.
In his conversation with Le360, the former Istiqlal leader denounced Chabat’s actions and called on him to leave. “Chabat’s statements are incoherent with Morocco’s interests or its history, and does not correlate with Morocco’s,” Boucetta said.
“We shouldn’t keep going backwards with insults, which is the level we are at now, to be honest.”
“We all made mistakes. Big mistakes. But when the time comes, you have to understand that if your interests go against those of the party, you must leave,” Boucetta concluded.
