Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Morocco’s King Boycotts West Africa Summit | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55375576
Caption:

A handout picture shows Morocco’s King Mohammed VI giving a speech to mark the 60th anniversary of the People and the King’s Revolution in Rabat on August 20, 2013. AFP PHOTO / Azzouz Boukallouch


Rabat- Morocco’s King Mohamed VI has canceled plans to attend a West Africa summit this weekend in Liberia’s capital due to the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The king had been due to attend the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit in Monrovia on Saturday and Sunday, where members are expected to discuss Morocco’s petition to join the bloc as a “full member,” the foreign ministry said late Thursday.

But key members of ECOWAS “have decided to reduce to the minimum their level of representation at the summit because they disagree with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being invited,” the ministry said in a statement.

The king “wishes his first visit to a ECOWAS summit not take place in a context of tension and controversy”, it added.