Morocco recalled its ambassador to Tunisia on Friday after Tunisian President Kais Saied received the head of a movement seeking independence for the Sahara region.
The Moroccan foreign ministry said Tunisia's decision to invite Polisario leader Brahim Ghali to a Japanese development summit for Africa in Tunis this weekend was "a serious and unprecedented act that deeply hurts the feelings of the Moroccan people and its forces".
Tunisia said on Saturday that it was recalling its ambassador to Rabat for consultation in response to Morocco's decision. Tunisia’s foreign ministry said the country maintained "neutrality” over the issue of Morocco’s Sahara region.
Morocco controls 80 per cent of the region while the rest is held by the Polisario movement, which fought a 15-year war with Morocco after Spanish forces withdrew in 1975 and demanded a referendum on independence.
Morocco has offered limited autonomy to the phosphate and fisheries-rich region but insists it must remain under its sovereignty.
On Friday, the Moroccan foreign ministry said the country would no longer take part in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development being hosted by Tunis.
It also accused Tunisia of having recently "multiplied negative positions" against Morocco, and said its decision to host Mr Ghali "confirms its hostility in a blatant way".
Tunisia’s foreign ministry said Mr Ghali was invited to attend the summit by the African Union, which recognises the Sahara region as a member although African states are split over both the Polisario and the territory's independence.
Mr Ghali had also received a direct invitation to the summit from the president of the African Commission, the ministry said.
It is not the first time that Mr Ghali's travels have sparked Moroccan anger.
He visited Spain in April last year to be treated for Covid-19, sparking a year-long diplomatic row between Spain and Morocco.
The dispute was resolved after Spain backed Morocco's plan for limited self-rule in the Sahara region, a former Spanish colony.
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
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