Analysts point to the possibility that Tunisia wants to "appease" Algeria and "ensure the continued flow of gas and electricity to the country"

Crisis Marruecos-Túnez: ¿qué hay detrás de la decisión de Saied?

photo_camera Tunisian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS - President Kais Saied receives Brahim Ghali in Tunisia

The participation of Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali in the Japan-Africa Cooperation Forum (TICAD) at the invitation of Tunisian President Kais Saied has caused a deep diplomatic rift between Morocco and Tunisia. Rabat opted to withdraw its ambassador to Tunisia after this "hostile and harmful" act, and the Tunisian government subsequently decided to do the same.

The Tunisian Foreign Ministry has expressed its surprise at Morocco's decision, which it considers not to be based on "a logical justification", since, according to Tunisia, the invitation to Ghali to a summit of this kind is not something new, according to Europa Press.

However, Rabat has responded to Tunisia by assuring that the "attempt to justify the hostile act" contains "many approximations and falsehoods". The Moroccan communiqué points out that only countries that have received an invitation signed by the Japanese prime minister and the Tunisian president will be able to participate in TICAD.

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"It is in this framework that 50 invitations were sent to African countries that have diplomatic relations with Japan. Tunisia therefore had no right to establish a unilateral invitation process," the communiqué explains.

The controversy over Ghali's presence extends beyond Morocco and Tunisia and into the summit itself. According to the Moroccan news agency MAP, the president of Guinea Bissau and current president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Umaro Sissoco Embaló, left the conference to protest against the Polisario leader's participation.

Japan has also commented on the issue, stating that "the presence of any entity that Japan does not recognise as a country does not change Tokyo's position on this entity", the foreign minister said, according to Moroccan media.

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"Tunisia has damaged a cause that is sacred to all Moroccans"

Tunisia's decision, which for decades has remained neutral on the Sahara issue, could be a response to the country's current economic situation. As Tunisian analysts tell Al Arab, the move is intended to 'appease' Algeria and 'ensure the continuous flow of gas and electricity to the country'. Experts have also stressed that Ghali's invitation was "neither calculated nor studied" by the government.

"Kais Saied should not have gone to the airport himself and received the Polisario leader, it is unacceptable," Naji Jalloul, head of the Tunisian National Coalition and former education minister, told the Arabic newspaper. "I understand the anger of the Moroccans because we have deep-rooted relations with them", he adds.

Despite this, the former minister wanted to convey a message of calm and tranquillity, assuring that this crisis will be "transitory" since "relations between Tunisia and Morocco are greater than this mistake".

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However, this decision has provoked strong rejection from the Moroccan authorities and Moroccan society. A Moroccan diplomatic source consulted by the media considered Tunisia's decision "unacceptable and unnecessarily provocative". "Tunisia has damaged a cause that is sacred to all Moroccans," he added.

The director of the Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Rabat, Khaled Al-Sharqawi Al-Sammouni, has branded the invitation to Ghali as "a violation of international law", claiming that Tunisia has received an "entity not recognised by the United Nations". The analyst was also disappointed by the behaviour of Saied and Tunisia, "a brotherly Arab country".

Al-Sammouni supports Rabat's decision to recall its ambassador to Tunis and calls for a 'reassessment' of bilateral relations until Saied's government changes its stance. 

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