Rabat - The press release published Friday evening by the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an attempt to justify a posteriori the hostile and deeply unfriendly act of the Tunisian authorities with regard to the First National Cause and the higher interests of the Kingdom of Morocco, "contains many approximations and untruths,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad on Saturday.
"Far from removing the ambiguities surrounding the Tunisian position, he only deepened them," said the ministry spokesman.
TICAD is not a meeting of the African Union, but a partnership framework between Japan and the African countries with which it has diplomatic relations, adds the same source, specifying that TICAD is thus part of African partnerships. , as there are with China, India, Russia, Turkey or the United States, and which are only open to African States recognized by the partner.
Consequently, the rules of the African Union and its framework, which Morocco fully respects, do not apply in this case, it is pointed out.
Concerning the invitation of the separatist entity to TICAD-8, the spokesman of the ministry wishes to specify that it was agreed from the start and with the agreement of Tunisia, that only those who will be able to take part in this meeting , the countries having received an invitation co-signed by the Japanese Prime Minister and the Tunisian President.
An official note verbale circulated by Japan on August 19, 2022, explicitly underlines that this co-signed invitation is "the only and authentic invitation without which no delegation will be authorized to participate in Ticad 8", specifying that "this invitation does not "is not intended for the entity mentioned in the verbal note of August 10, 2022", that is to say the separatist entity, we specify from the same source, adding that it is in this context that 50 invitations were sent to African countries that have diplomatic relations with Japan and that Tunisia therefore did not have the right to establish a unilateral invitation process, parallel and specific to the separatist entity, against the explicit will of the Japanese partner.
The spokesperson for the ministry also underlines that Tunisia's press release shows the same approximation on the African position. This position has always been based on inclusive participation of African states, not AU members. It is based on AU Summit Decision 762, which clarifies that the Ticad framework is not open to all AU members, and that the format is defined by the same decision and by the arrangements with the partner.
Even the resolution of the Lusaka Executive Council of July 2022, was content to "encourage[r] inclusiveness" while conditioning it by "compliance with the relevant decisions of the AU", in this case the Decision 762, he explained.
With regard to the substance of neutrality and the reference in the Communiqué to "respect for United Nations resolutions" with regard to the Sahara issue, he noted that Tunisia's surprising and unexplained abstention during the adoption of Security Council resolution 2602 last October casts serious and legitimate doubt on its support for the political process and the resolutions of the United Nations.
In relation, finally, to the welcome given by the Tunisian Head of State to the leader of the separatist militia, the spokesman noted that the stubborn reference in the Tunisian press release to "the reception of the guests of Tunisia on a equal footing" arouses the greatest surprise, knowing that neither the Tunisian government nor the Tunisian people recognize this puppet entity.
It bears witness to an act of hostility that is as blatant as it is gratuitous, and which has nothing to do with the "Tunisian tradition of hospitality" which, in any case, cannot in any case apply to the enemies of the brothers and friends who have always been at Tunisia's side in difficult times.
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