TICAD Summit: Sahrawi Ambassador Assaulted by Moroccan Delegate
On Friday, Lamine Baali, the Sahrawi ambassador to the African Union, was assaulted by a member of the Moroccan delegation participating in the preparatory expert meeting for the TICAD summit in Tokyo, as reported by the Sahrawi news agency.
The same source clarified that this incident “was not simply an individual reaction from the Moroccan delegate but rather reflects his failure to fulfill the task he was seemingly assigned,” particularly after he verbally attacked the Sahrawi ambassador and the African diplomats who intervened to protect him.
A Sahrawi diplomatic source commented on the incident, stating that it demonstrated the “inability of the Moroccan occupation regime to prevent the Sahrawi delegation from participating in the TICAD summit,” following the “host country’s commitment to the principles of the African Union, which rejects any form of exclusion of its members in such meetings.”
The Sahrawi diplomat characterized the incident as “bullying behavior by Moroccan diplomats,” viewing it as “clear evidence of their failure and a reflection of their weak arguments and incapacity in the face of the just struggle of the Sahrawi people, as well as the presence of the Sahrawi Republic alongside the Moroccan occupier at such international forums despite all attempts by the Moroccan regime to obstruct it.”
In this context, the Sahrawi news agency noted that “this is not the first instance in which Moroccan diplomats have violated the most basic norms and protocols of diplomacy.”
