Morocco announced that Libya has chosen to withdraw its candidacy for membership in the African Union’s Peace and Security Council for the term 2022-2025 in favor of the Kingdom.

Rabat reported that the decision was announced during a phone discussion between Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and his Libyan counterpart, Najla AlMangoush, on Sunday.

The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Bourita confirmed during the call the “strong support of the Kingdom of Morocco” to the government of national unity and Libyan institutions, in accordance with King Mohammed VI’s guidelines, and “support for its efforts to hold elections in a comprehensive, participatory, and pragmatic framework, which contributes to the efforts of finding a final solution to the crisis that guarantees Libya’s stabilization.”

Bourita thanked the national unity administration, led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah, on “the wisdom it has showed since taking its responsibilities,” according to the statement.

According to the statement, the phone call “provided an opportunity for the two ministers to consult and collaborate on regional and international matters.”

According to AlMangoush, “in the context of the strong brotherly relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the sisterly state of Libya,” “the State of Libya has decided to withdraw its candidacy for membership in the Peace and Security Council of the African Union by drawing up a mandate 2022-2025, waiving it in favor of the Kingdom of Morocco and supporting the Moroccan candidacy for this mandate.” “This judgment will be conveyed to the African Union Commission,” she continued.

According to the statement, the two ministers also discussed “the situation of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, affirming their determination to coordinate in order to give a strong impetus to the organization and the return of its institutions to work in their official and natural headquarters.”

Libya is set to hold its first round of presidential elections on December 24, following years of UN-led efforts to end the country’s civil conflict and restore political stability.

However, the next election will encounter numerous hurdles, including unresolved issues with election laws and periodic infighting between armed factions. Other impediments include the country’s deep schism between east and west, as well as the presence of thousands of foreign fighters and forces.

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The Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs will set up a large mosque in the border center of Guerguerat at an estimated cost of 8 million dirhams.

Aousserd regional prefect, Abderrahman Jawhari, said that the constructional work of this mosque, which will open its doors within 12 months, started today, Wednesday, on the occasion of the 65^th Anniversary of the Kingdom’s Independence Day.

The project, which will be built on an area of 3,767 square meters, includes a prayer hall for men, one for women, rooms for ablution, a minaret and house for the Imam.

The representative of the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in Al-Dakhla – Oued Dahab Region, Abdelkader Alioui, said in a statement to Maghreb Arab News Agency that the construction of this mosque comes in response to the concern that the believers can perform their religious duties in good conditions and cope with the urban development dynamics known by Guerguerat border and the Bir Gandouz community.

Aliwi added that this religious edifice will be constructed in respect of the norms of Islamic architecture in accordance with the High Instructions of his Majesty King Mohammed VI, Commander of the believers.

The Bir Gandouz border Center has seen significant socio-economic development in the recent years, due to its strategic geographical position on the Moroccan-Mauritanian border.

In addition to the interests of the State, many contractors have established branches at this center to provide services to both travelers and inhabitants.

Moreover, about 200 trucks cross this road-axis daily on their way to Mauritania and the rest of West African countries.

The movement of goods and people at Guerguerat border crossing resumed last Saturday, after the Royal Armed forces’ firm intervention against Polisario militias in the buffer zone after they broke into it on October 21, and blocked traffic between Morocco and Mauritania.

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David T. Fischer, the United States of America Ambassador to Morocco sent a congratulatory letter to his Majesty the King Mohammed VI on the occasion of Morocco’s Independence Day celebration.

In this letter, the U.S. Ambassador expressed his warmest congratulations and sincere wishes to the King Mohammed VI for further progress, prosperity and fruitful cooperation between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States of America, as well as the concerted action on all matters on common concerns and interests in order to implement the two countries’ shared vision regarding the Moroccan-American strategic partnership.

The ambassador stated in the message “I will spare no effort in boosting Morocco-US common interests and continued cooperation and upholding our nations’ shared vision and strategic partnership”.

Morocco-US relations date back to  the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the two nations negotiated in 1786. The treaty constitutes the longest unbroken treaty relationship in U.S. history.

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A statement released Friday evening by Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces announced that the Guerguerat border crossing between Morocco and Mauritania is completely secured via a security cordon, under the highest instructions of His Majesty the King, the Supreme Commander and Chief of the Royal Armed forces.

The statement assured that Morocco’s armed forces executed the security operation with respect to clear rules of intervention that require to avoid any contact with civilians according to the High Instructions of his Majesty the King Mohammed VI.

The same source added that during the operation, the armed militias of the Polisario opened fire on the Royal Armed forces, which retaliated, and forced the elements of these militias to escape without recording any casualties, confirming that this operation comes after the Polisario militias’ blockade of the Guergueret border crossing.

The communiqué highlighted that the militiamen of the Polisario separatists voluntarily set fire to the encampment they had erected then boarded pickups and trucks and fled east and south, “under the eyes of MINURSO observers”.

The statement concluded that “the Guerguerat crossing is now completely secure through a security cordon ensuring the flow of goods and people through the passage between the two border posts.

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the country’s royal court in Bahrain said that Bahraini PM Khalifa Bin Salman died today, Wednesday, in a hospital in the US at the age of 84.

Bahrain News Agency said, “The Royal Court mourns His Royal Highness… who passed away this morning at Mayo Clinic Hospital in the United States of America,”

The agency added that king Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced official national mourning for one week during which flags will be flown at half-mast. Government departments work will also be suspended for three days starting on Thursday.

A burial ceremony is expected to take place upon the repatriation of his body, and only a limited number of relatives will attend the funeral.

Prince Khalifa traveled, in November 2019, to Germany for undisclosed medical treatments, but came back to Bahrain months later.

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The Assistant Commander of the Mauritanian Army, General Mukhtar Bella Shaaban, arrived Yesterday, Monday, to the northwestern city of Nouadhibou, where the Guerguerat border crossing is located.

The independent Mauritanian News Agency confirmed that the aim of the visit is to study possible measures to “secure” the borders closed by the fictitious Polisario Front gangs for a period of three weeks.

This step broke Mauritania’s long silence concerning Polisario separatists’ disruptive behaviors in the region. This blatant breach led to the closure of Guerguerat border crossing in a way that paralyzed the movement of commercial exchanges between Morocco and Mauritania, limiting the supply of the Mauritanian market with Moroccan agricultural products.

After a long silence over the provocations of the Polisario separatists, King Mohammed VI affirmed, in his forty-fifth Green March anniversary speech, the kingdom’s rejection of the unacceptable practices of trying to obstruct the normal traffic between Morocco and Mauritania, or to change the legal and historical situation east of the security wall, or any other exploitation. In addition, the king  asserted Morocco’s readiness “to confront with all force and firmness the violations that try to harm the safety and stability of the southern provinces.”

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King Mohammed VI, in his speech today on the Green March anniversary, affirmed that recent years have witnessed tangible developments on several levels. At the level of the United Nations, ” the recent decisions of the Security Council have laid to rest outdated and unrealistic approaches and proposals”. The UN decisions, adds the king, also insist on “the effective participation of the real parties concerned in this regional conflict” and have “irreversibly endorsed the political solution based on realism and consensus as the path forward”. This policy, says the king, goes in line with the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative “backed by the Security Council and the influential powers as the sole normal course of action for the settlement of this dispute”.

At the level of the African Union, the king affirmed that Morocco’s return to its African home led this organization to freeing itself from the “manipulations it had been subjected to for years”. This pan-African organization, added the king, has adopted a “a constructive stance, which consists in providing, through the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council, full support to the United Nations Organization as the sole institution in charge.

On the legal/diplomatic front, the king asserted that the many sister countries which have opened general consulates in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla, are “explicitly and unequivocally recognizing the Moroccanness of the Sahara” and “attesting to the security, stability and prosperity enjoyed by the inhabitants of our southern provinces”.

The Monarch, in addition, expressed his confidence that the UN and MINURSO will keep carrying out their duties in terms of preserving the ceasefire in the region.

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The French official, who visited the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat as part of his two-day trip to the Kingdom, expressed his happiness to be in Morocco to reaffirm the ties of friendship between the two countries, welcoming the great effort made by HM the King to promote culture and cultural openness.

Darmanin said he will underline during talks with Moroccan officials the importance of strengthening collaboration.

He added that he was instructed by the President of the French Republic to tell Moroccan officials that “this collaboration must continue despite the pandemic crisis which sometimes handicaps relations that two brotherly countries may have”.

For his part, president of the National Museum Foundation (FNM), Mehdi Qotbi, said that the French minister started his trip to Morocco by visiting the Mohammed VI museum, which represents a recognition of efforts made by HM King Mohammed VI, who has given a significant place to culture.

The visit of the French minister “is a crowning achievement for us,” said Qotbi, noting that the French minister’s visit coincides with the celebration of the museum’s sixth anniversary.

This visit sends strong messages to Morocco and to Moroccans, a message of culture throughout the world, he pointed out, noting that culture “is the best vector to understand and know others.”

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King Mohammed VI sent a message of congratulations to Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister of the Government of Japan, on the precious confidence he had in assuming the presidency of the Government.

the King expressed his sincere wishes of success in advancing his new lofty tasks, and his confidence that the vast experience and political acumen Suga has accumulated will be of importance in serving his country, in a way that enhances his position at the regional and international levels.

The king added: “Based on the solid bonds of friendship and fruitful cooperation between our two countries, I cease this opportunity to assure your Excellency my strong desire to work together with you to consolidate our distinguished relations, in the interest of our two friendly peoples.”

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