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Rabat – Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has left the ongoing TICAD8 development conference in Tunisia over the inclusion of Polisario representatives. Sources tell Morocco World News that the West-African leader protested the presence of the separatist Polisario Front’s leader Brahim Ghali.
Ghali was invited to the event by Tunsian President Kais Saied, despite requests from the event’s co-host Japan to leave contentious regional politics out of the development forum. The event was supposed to be devoid of regional conflicts and instead center on the $30 billion Japan has pledged to assist African countries in various aspects of development.
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Instead the event became another unfortunate casualty of regional rivalries as Tunisia’s president personally welcomed the leader of the Algerian proxy militia, prompting Morocco to boycott the conference and withdraw its ambassador from Tunisia.
President Embalo protested the unexpected inclusion of Ghali in the Japan-AU development conference, choosing to leave the event in a show of support for Morocco. Guinea-Bissau has over the years been a strong supporter of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for the Western Sahara region.
Read also: Tunisia’s President Choses Algerian Gas Over Sahara Neutrality
The West African country reiterated its support for Morocco’s peace plan as recently as June 9, when it reaffirmed its “consistent” support for Morocco’s territorial integrity.
