Rabat – Moroccans have taken to social media to express their outrage at images of the country’s Prime Minister posing with a pin of the MENA region map that excludes Morocco’s southern provinces while participating in a Green Initiative event in Saudi Arabia.
Footage of the Saudi event also showed PM Aziz Akhannouch posing for a group picture with an incomplete Moroccan map in the background.
Many Moroccan netizens have lashed out at Akhannouch for participating in the event, saying he “should have declined participation after seeing the severed map.”
Moroccans across various social media platforms voiced out their anger and disappointment, with one sarcastically sharing a picture of the Moroccan head of government with the caption: ”Akhannouch abandons the Sahara during his first foreign mission as Prime Minister.”
But others, although a minority, defended the prime minister, framing his action as a necessary compromise.
“This is part of the job and customary political correctness,” commenter said, adding that “despite Moroccans’ strong attachment to their country’s territorial integrity, no country or entity is forced to follow suit, until a UN declaration.”
Journalist and writer Younes Masskine also took to his social media to voice his surprise and outrage at the scene. The journalist especially took issue with Akhannouch’s defenders, saying he has “witnessed Moroccans in international events stand up, and demand that the maps featured included the totality of the Moroccan territory. ”
Despite the undeniable diplomatic gaffe, it is important to note that most gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, have repeatedly and firmly spoken out in support of Morocco’s territorial integrity in recent months.
Just this week, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait all reiterated their support for Morocco’s territorial integrity during discussions before the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly.
They voiced support for Morocco’s UN-backed Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara, with Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador saying that the Moroccan proposal is the best and only viable way to a sustainable solution to the Sahara conflict.
