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Toronto- After some speculation about whether or not he would return to Tangier for his annual summer holiday, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is expected to arrive in the city on July 21, accompanied by members of the Saudi royal family, including crown prince Mohammed ben Salman.
Sources close to the event have indicated the King will be greeted by senior Moroccan officials when he and his entourage arrive next Thursday.
“The Saudi ruler will find members of the Moroccan government to welcome him, in addition to senior civilian and military figures,” the sources cited by Moroccan news outlet le360 said. “After the honors that will be given to King Salman during the reception ceremony, the Saudi royal procession will head to its palace in the Jbila region adjoining the sea on the Atlantic side,” the same source added.
The visit of King Salman is never a small affair. According to the same sources, this year is no different. “Almost 827 rooms have been booked in various hotels in Tangiers.” They stressed that this Saturday, July 15, access will be blocked to one of the largest hotel units in Tangier, The Hotel Mirage, strictly for the benefit of the family of King Salman.
As always, a King is never truly on vacation and King Salman is no exception, especially considering the current crisis in the Gulf regarding the Saud-led blockade of after over allegations it is funding terrorist organizations, charges Qatar has strenuously denied.
“It is expected that the city of Tangiers will become, like last summer, the destination of Arab and foreign heads of state,” sources said. “French President Emmanuel Macron and the Hashemite sovereign, King Abdullah of Jordan, will also be expected in early August,” the source added, as well as the emir of Kuwait and the king of Bahrain.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is also expected to visit the Tangier summer palace of King Salman.
Given the current state of tension in the Gulf and Morocco’s official stance to remain neutral, King Salman’s visit was anything but a certainty. At one point, early on in the dispute, King Mohammed VI offered to act as a mediator in the dispute and gave his royal authorization for the shipment of food supplies to the isolated country.
In early June Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt announced to the world that they were severing all diplomatic ties with Qatar, citing allegations that the country was funding terrorist organizations. Qatar denied the allegations from the onset of the crisis and the bloc has yet to present any evidence to support their claims.
On June 22, the bloc issued its long-anticipated list of thirteen demands to Qatar to end the crisis, including the immediate closure of state-funded network, Al Jazeera. That demand has since been rescinded, but others stand including the dismantling of Turkish military base on Qatari soil, the funding of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al Qaeda and ISIS, and a cooling of relations with Iran.
Calling the demands unworkable, Qatar presented their official rejection of them to mediator Kuwait, prompting an angry response from the bloc who promised new sanctions in the offing.
Negotiations have remained at a virtual standstill ever since, prompting a tour of the countries involved by US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who acknowledged that a solution is most likely not going to be a quick one.
