Rabat – King Mohammed VI appointed today Samira Sitail as Morocco’s new ambassador to France, a statement from the royal palace has announced.
Sitail is a former journalist and former director of information at the Moroccan broadcasting channel 2M.
Sitail’s appointment comes a month after media appearances went viral of her rebuking of French claims targeting relief efforts Morocco had deployed to address the September 8 devastating earthquake.
Some French news outlets had questioned Morocco’s response to the tragic tremor and accused the kingdom of rejecting France’s offer to assist in rescue and relief efforts.
In response, Sitail denounced what she described as an attempt by the French political elite to incite Moroccans to revolt against their government and the monarchy. As if their misleading and paternalistic attitude to Morocco’s relief efforts was not enough, she argued, France sought to come and tell Moroccans “‘We want to help you, but your government won’t let us.’ I consider this extremely serious, and it needs to be corrected.”
The appointment of a new ambassador to France comes on the heels of simmering diplomatic tensions between Rabat and Paris.
Morocco terminated Mohamed Benchaaboun’s duties as ambassador to France in February, 2023.
The termination was the culmination of simmering tensions between Rabat and Paris on a large range of strategic issues, with the latest at the time of the Moroccan decision being the perception that France was the orchestrator of a hostile resolution in which the European Parliament accused Morocco of intimidating and harassing journalists and activists.
Many observers believe that French MEPs close to Emmanuel Macron were behind the hostile resolution.
Meanwhile, France’s decision to slash the number of visas granted to Moroccans by half in 2022 added insult to injury. Despite France’s pledges that consular services between the two countries were fully restored, many Moroccans have continued to complain about delays of appointments and unjustified rejections of their visa applications.
The appointment of a new Moroccan ambassador in Paris now raises the question of whether or not the two erstwhile “strategic allies” will be able to gradually rebuild mutual confidence and further cement their diplomatic relations in the coming months and years.
