Tunisian President Kais Saied has cancelled a planned visit to Nouakchott after Mauritania officially announced its refusal to participate in the Maghreb meeting in Tunis.
Reports indicated that the postponement of the visit was not due to scheduling problems, but rather due to emerging diplomatic differences.
These events come in light of increasing tension in relations between Tunisia and Rabat, especially after the Tunisian president received the leader of the Polisario Front in August 2022, as this step at the time faced criticism from Tunisian political circles and considered it an escalation against the state, which has always been on Tunisia’s side.
Mauritania’s refusal to attend the Tunis meeting was a continuation of an earlier position, with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani refraining from attending a similar meeting in Algeria in March.
The Algerian presidency announced a Maghreb meeting every three months, the first in Tunisia after Ramadan, but Mauritania confirmed its refusal to attend meetings that exclude Morocco, considering this a threat to the unity of the region.
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