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Rabat – Amid media claims that the Moroccan ambassador to Mauritania had been rejected by the country’s president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Moroccan media outlet le360 has reported that the news is incorrect.
Le360 cited an unnamed government source, which stated that Hamid Chabar, the new ambassador, had not been rejected by Mauritanian authorities.
More than two months after his appointment, the ambassador has not yet assumed his role, leading to speculations that the nomination might have been contested.
On Saturday, Mauritanian news website Anbaa claimed that Chabar’s appointment had been rejected by President Ould Abdel Aziz.
The news was then widely largely by Moroccan and Arab news websites, alluding to a nascent crisis between the two countries already in disagreement over several issues, including the Western Sahara.
The motive behind Abdel Aziz’s refusal, some media outlets suggested, was his anger at Morocco for harboring of one of his opponents, businessman Mohamed Ould Bouamatou, who is a subject of an international search warrant issued by Mauritanian authorities.
However, the government source told le360 that Chabar’s accreditation process is taking its normal course.
“We are surprised at the news and we are wondering who might be behind [the] spreading [of] this careless mistake,” said the source.
