Between Saudi Arabia and Morocco, the diplomatic relations are still strong albeit some differences in interests start to arise. The «constructive neutrality», stated by the communiqué issued by the royal cabinet regarding the diplomatic crisis involving Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama was clearly not appreciated by the Wahhabi kingdom.
Did the decision taken by King Mohammed VI to send food supplies to Qatar exacerbate this feeling ? Some of the influential and powerful parties in Saudi Arabia were cringing teeth over the two initiatives put forward by the Moroccan kingdom.
And they wanted to make us know about it.
A lukewarm coverage dedicated to Bourita's visit
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC), Nasser Bourita, who has been on a tour visiting the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), arrived to Jeddah on Tuesday 13th of June where he was received by King Salman. The Saudi news agency (SPA), as a result, has provided the event with a very distant, even cold, coverage.
SPA was content with barely one annoucement saying that the Moroccan Foreign Minister «has forwarded King Mohammed VI greetings to King Salman», and the latter has responded similarly. Nothing more. The news agency has completly ignored the efforts put forward by Morocco to end the conflict that started two weeks ago between Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar.
Meanwhile, the official website of the Moroccan Foreign Ministry has insisted on the king's «verbal message» conveyed by Nasser Bourita during his Gulf visit.
Other local media platforms have stuck to the same thing, reporting faithfully the text provided by the SPA. On the other hand, other TV channels in the region referred to the Moroccan kingdom's mediation endeavors. An example for that is Ermnews.com (UAE), which mentioned the «verbal message» sent by King Mohammed VI to the Saudi monarch. Moreover, the Egyptian daily newspaper Al Ahram has equally mentioned on its official website the «mediation» conducted by Morocco. The same thing was done by the online news website belonging to the American channel Al Hurra.
In order to find a solution for the diplomatic crisis taking place in the Gulf region, King Mohammed VI sent Nasser Bourita to Kuwait, UAE, and Saudi Arabia respectively.