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Did Bourita and Tillerson discuss the delay in appointing a new American ambassador for Morocco ?

It has been almost nine months since Donald Trump got elected president of the United States. It has been also nine months since the American Embassy in the Kingdom is waiting for a new Ambassador after the departure of Dwight Bush in January, knowing that Trump has already appointed in June a new ambassador to Algeria.

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The Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, held talks yesterday, 7th of September, in Washington with the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. The visit was announced on the Department od State's twitter accompanied by a video and a couple of photos of the two senior officials shaking hands.

The same thing goes for the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation which contented itself by publishing a short communiqué about the meeting in Washington. A few hours later, MAP news agency confirmed the visit stating the points that both Bourita and his counterpart discussed at the Department of State office.

A priori, diplomatic relations between the kingdom and the current president are good. Regarding the conflict of Western Sahara, the Trump administration has almost joined the range of those countries who are supporting Morocco.

Trump has already appointed a new Ambassador to Algeria

However, the «arrangement» remains ambiguous knowing that Trump has not yet appointed a new Ambassador to Rabat, especially since the late Ambassador, Dwight Bush has left in January 2017. Did Nasser Bourita raise this issue before his American counterpart ?

During his first term, Barack Obama appointed Samuel Kaplan to head the US Embassy in June 2009, only five months after being in office. For the record, Hilary Clinton, who was considered as a strong ally of Morocco, was heading the department back in the time.

After leaving the government in January 2013, Obama had to name another official to replace Samuel Kaplan whose mandate ended on April 30th 2013. It took him a year to appoint Dwight Bush an American Ambassador to the Kingdom.

Will Donald Trump break this record? With such an unpredictable president, everything is possible. The US President appointed John P. Desrocher, United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Algeria, in June. It is presented as a great specialist of the Maghreb and the Arab world.

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