Rabat - Will King Mohammed VI will meet with the American President during his private visit to the United States? This is the question that millions of Moroccans are asking.
Rabat – Will King Mohammed VI will meet with the American President during his private visit to the United States? This is the question that millions of Moroccans are asking.
According to French magazine, Jeune Afrique, American President Donald Trump will chair a luncheon in honor of King Mohammed VI in Florida on Sunday.
No communique has been issued by either the Moroccan Ministry of foreign affairs or the State Department to confirm the information reported by Jeune Afrique.
After having a six-day holiday in Cuba, King Mohammed VI left for America aboard an airplane belonging to King Salman of Saudi Arabia. He arrived in Miami, Florida on Thursday, accompanied by Princess Lalla Salma, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and Princess Lalla Khadija.
Jeune Afrique reported that the King capitalized on his stay in Havana to meet with Cuban officials. The contact could lead to the normalization of relations between the two countries, after a 37-year freeze due to Cuba’s support for the Polisario.
This will be King Mohammed VI’s first trip to the United States after Donald Trump was elected President. The Moroccan king was among the first heads of state to congratulate Trump following his victory in the election last November.
If this meeting is confirmed, the King will be the second African head of state to meet Trump after Egyptian President Abdefettah Al-Sissi, who was received at the White House on Monday, March 27.
The King’s visit to the United States comes a couple of weeks before the Security Council is scheduled to vote on a new resolution to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Western Sahara, known as MINURSO.
Since he was sworn in as President of the United States, Trump has spent six weekends on his private estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
The United States is the pen holder of the Security Council resolutions on the Western Sahara. Every year, it drafts the resolution in coordination with the other members of the Group of Friends of the Western Sahara, which include France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Spain.
Morocco needs the support of the United States at the Security Council for the adoption of a resolution that will create a new dynamic in the UN-led political process and bring the conflict to an end through a mutually acceptable solution, in line with UN Security Council 1754 (2007).
In addition to the question of the Western Sahara, fighting terrorism could be be one of the subjects to be addressed in the event the meeting takes place.
Morocco has played a key role in fighting ISIS both at the national and international level. His intelligence services have been instrumental in helping European countries, such as France, Belgium and Spain, abort many terrorist plots. Since Trump has made fighting ISIS his top priority, Morocco may prove to be a key player in the US strategy to fight terrorism.
