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By Hafid Akrout
Morocco World News
Brussels, April 26, 2012
The diplomatic meeting which took place on April 11 in Rabat between the Moroccan Prime Minister and the foreign minister of Belgium, Didier Reynders, and the Minister of Justice, Annemie Turtelboom, was about to turn into a diplomatic incident.
According to RTL.be, Radio Télévision Belge, throughout the meeting, the Moroccan prime minister did not bother to address the Belgian Minister of Justice.
In addition, the Moroccan Head of Government opened the meeting with a weird joke that Annemie Turtelboom deemed as displaced. Abdelilah Benkiran, had in fact, told Didier Reynders “there is no need to bring an interpreter,” in a hint to Annemie Turtelboom.
Annemie Turtelboom’s trip to Rabat was not very productive, as she could not address all the issues she went to Morocco for, such as equality between male and female, forced marriage and the return of prisoners to their country of origin.
In light of the little interest shown by the Moroccan Head of Government to deal with her, these issue were instead addressed by her colleague, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
As reported by RTL.be, if the Foreign Minister of Belgium wasn’t present, we could have witnessed a diplomatic incident between Morocco and Belguim.
“On leaving the hearing, Annemie Turtelboom is furious. If Didier Reynders was not present and if she had not feared to trigger a major diplomatic incident, she would have left the meeting, slamming the door says it at the time,” says RTL.be.
Although, Annemie Turtelboom was very uncomfortable and furious when meeting Moroccan prime minister, she took two weeks to report the incident to Belgian media. Her spokesman told to RTL.Be that Abdelilah Benkiran apologized later for this joke.
