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The German and EU flags on the roof of the German embassy in Rabat
Photo: Mosa'ab Elshamy / dpa
Morocco apparently wants to suspend relations with the German embassy and associated organizations.
This news from Monday evening is causing unrest in the German organizations in the country.
The office of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Rabat said on Tuesday that they are in contact with the German embassy to clarify the situation.
"We are still working on our projects, but a few things have to be clarified," said a spokesman for the German press agency.
Representatives of German political foundations in the country were also surprised.
The news site "Medias24" published a letter from Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Monday evening.
The internal letter was also available to the Reuters news agency.
In it, Moroccan authorities are asked to suspend "all contact" with the embassy and German organizations associated with it.
The reason given is "deep misunderstandings" on "fundamental questions about the Kingdom of Morocco".
The exact reasons for the move initially remained unclear on Tuesday.
"Morocco wants to maintain its relationship with Germany, but this is a kind of warning that expresses displeasure about many issues," a senior representative of the Moroccan Foreign Ministry told the AFP news agency on Monday evening.
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Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita
Photo: JIM WATSON / AFP
There has not yet been an official communication from the Moroccan side.
The foreign ministry there also did not comment on the process when asked by the dpa.
From the Foreign Office in Berlin it was said that Germany saw "no reason to impair good diplomatic relations with Morocco."
The State Secretary in the Foreign Office had asked the Moroccan Ambassador in Berlin for an urgent discussion and for an explanation of the process.
Events have to be postponed
The move apparently took place without warning to the embassy or the organizations.
But the first effects seem to be already evident: "Some partners have asked us to postpone events to the next week or the week after that," said Steffen Krüger, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's country representative for Morocco.
When asked about the reasons for Morocco's behavior, he said: "We suspect that this is an accumulation of various problems and causes".
From diplomatic circles in Morocco it was said that one reason could be the dispute over the Western Sahara.
Morocco lays claim to the sparsely populated region, but this is not recognized internationally.
Germany had convened a meeting of the UN Security Council in December - shortly after the controversial announcement by the US under ex-President Donald Trump that it would recognize this sovereignty.
Another reason could also be the fact that Morocco was not invited to the Berlin Libya Conference at the end of 2019.
Morocco is a regional neighbor of Libya and has also hosted talks by the Libyan parliament in an attempt to end the conflict there.
"Popular means of Moroccan foreign policy"
Breaking diplomatic contact is "a popular tool in Moroccan foreign policy," said the German community in Morocco.
"Building up pressure is a negotiating technique that we don't understand very well." In 2016, the kingdom also suspended diplomatic relations with the European Union.
It was a protest against a ruling by the EU court on the EU's agriculture and fisheries agreement with Morocco.
The court had declared the agreement invalid in part because it also included the Western Sahara areas annexed by Morocco.
The Federal Foreign Office describes relations with Morocco as "traditionally close, friendly and free of tension".
Both countries also have strong economic and trade ties.
"Today we are first in the process of analyzing the situation," said Sebastian Vagt, project manager of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Morocco.
"The situation came as a surprise to us yesterday," said the Hanns Seidel Foundation's office there.
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ptz / dpa / AFP