Rabat – King Mohammed VI is ready to offer his mediation in order to solve the unprecedented Gulf crisis, said Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in a communiqué on Sunday.
Amid the unprecedented crisis surrounding Qatar and its neighboring gulf countries, Morocco has broken its silence saying King Mohammed has held extensive and permanent talks with various parties since the deterioration of their diplomatic ties, according to the Ministry.
“The Kingdom of Morocco is following with great concern over the past few days the deterioration of ties between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Egypt and other Arab countries on one side, and the State of Qatar on the other one,” the communiqué said.
The Ministry continued, “because of the strong personal ties of sincere fraternity and mutual consideration between King Mohammed VI – and His brother Kings and Emirs of the Gulf countries, the Kingdom of Morocco has been careful not to pay into public statements and hasty statements which only reinforce discord and deepen differences.”
The King has, therefore, called on all parties to be wise in order to reduce tension, to overcome this crisis and to finally settle the causes that led to this, in accordance with the spirit which has always prevailed within the GCC, said the Ministry.
The Ministry added that Morocco is strongly associated with the Gulf countries in all fields despite its geographical distance, feels intimately concerned by this crisis despite it is not directly involved. The Kingdom favors a constructive neutrality, which cannot confine it to passive observation of a disturbing escalation between brotherly countries.
The Ministry added that Morocco is “ready to offer its good offices with a view to promote a frank and comprehensive dialogue on the basis of no-interference in internal affairs and the fight against religious extremism.”
In the early hours of Monday, June 4, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Yemen and Libya, and the Maldives, all announced they were severing their ties with Qatar over its alleged “support of terrorism.”
Morocco has always been a strategic ally of the gulf countries. In 2016, the first Morocco-GCC summit opened in Riyadh in the presence of King Mohammed VI. It was a chance for consultation and coordination of positions to take up the challenges and threats facing the Arab region, in addition to garnering the support of the Gulf for Morocco’s territorial integrity.
In a speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the summit, King Mohammed VI said that “the question of Moroccan Sahara has always been the cause of Gulf countries as well.” He added that, in 1975, delegations from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates all took part in the Green March for the recovery of our southern provinces.
