After more than two months of icy silence, Morocco is increasing diplomatic pressure on the German government.

The Foreign Ministry in Rabat called the Berlin ambassador back for consultations and gave for the first time in an official statement reasons for the diplomatic crisis that has persisted since March.

At that time, the Foreign Minister ordered that all contacts with the German embassy and other German institutions be terminated.

The allegations are massive, if not entirely new: According to the communiqué, Germany has "multiplied its hostile acts" directed against the "highest interests" of Morocco.

Hans-Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.

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    The federal government's “negative stance” in the Western Sahara conflict is described as particularly serious.

    This speaks of the disappointment that Germany did not follow the example of the then American President Donald Trump, who recognized the Moroccan claim to most of the former Spanish colony last December.

    Instead, Germany called a meeting of the UN Security Council.

    To this day, people in Berlin insist on the validity of international law and demand a peaceful solution to the conflict under the leadership of the United Nations.

    Would you like a public gesture from Berlin?

    According to Ignacio Cembrero, a Spanish expert on Morocco, Morocco has underestimated the diplomatic steadfastness in Berlin. "Rabat wants Germany to make a public gesture," says Cembrero. Moroccan diplomats were apparently mistaken when they expected the German government to react in a similar way to Spain and France before: Both states had publicly apologized after previous conflicts. Ultimately, Morocco is hurting itself, says Cembrero. Germany is one of the most important donor countries that made commitments worth 1.4 billion euros last year. The new ice age allegedly makes it more difficult to pay out new aid.

    "We are all the more surprised by this measure as we are working constructively with the Moroccan side to resolve the crisis," said the Foreign Office, which asked for an explanation for the move in Rabat. The "allegations and also the choice of words" lacked any basis, said a foreign office spokeswoman on Friday. Rabat, for example, accuses the German authorities of complicity with a "former convicted of terrorist acts": Sensitive information from Moroccan security services had been passed on to him. No name is given, but it should be about Mohamed Hajib, who is a German citizen and lives in Duisburg.

    Hajib was detained in Morocco for seven years. The 39-year-old German Moroccan was convicted of participating in the formation of a terrorist organization in Afghanistan. From Germany he criticizes the Moroccan regime and the king on his YouTube channel. Morocco had filed a complaint against him in Germany and had unsuccessfully sought an international arrest warrant from Interpol.

    German judicial authorities see no evidence of calls for violence or criminal offenses. The Foreign Office also considers the Moroccan claim that Berlin is fighting “persistently and continuously” against Morocco playing a role in the solution of the Libya conflict because it was excluded from the Berlin Libya Conference in January 2020 as incomprehensible. The declaration does not mention that Morocco was invited to the following meetings that Germany helped to organize.

    The Federal Republic is not the only country to be hit by the diplomatic anger of Rabat.

    Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has been outraged that Brahim Ghali, the head of the Polisario Liberation Front, which is fighting for an independent Western Sahara, is being treated for a corona infection in Spain.

    Morocco is wondering whether Spain "wants to sacrifice its bilateral relations for Ghali," Bourita told the EFE news agency.

    Ghali had come to Spain with a false identity and an Algerian travel document.

    He was allowed to enter the country “for purely humanitarian reasons”, emphasizes the government in Madrid, which is struggling with another difficulty: proceedings against Ghali are pending before the Madrid Supreme Court.

    It is about the allegation that dissidents were tortured in the Polisario camps.