HIBAPRESS – Shafiq Anouri
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by José Manuel Albarés, admitted on Thursday evening that the Chargé d'Affaires at the Moroccan Embassy in Madrid attended the protest summons regarding statements by the Moroccan Ministers of Justice and Endowments concerning the occupied cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had stated earlier on Thursday during a plenary session of the Congress of Deputies that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned the Moroccan Ambassador on August 21st to protest the statements made by the two Moroccan ministers on the issue of the occupied cities.
Following this, "La Razón" published an exclusive report stating that the Moroccan Ambassador, Karima Benyaich, was on her annual leave in Morocco during the date indicated by the Prime Minister, which drew sharp criticism on Sánchez and led some to question the veracity of his statement.
To clarify the details of the matter, "La Razón" quoted unnamed sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that the person who attended the summons mentioned by the Prime Minister was the Chargé d'Affaires, not the Moroccan Ambassador.
The same sources confirmed that Sánchez's statements were "correct and accurate" because the summons was indeed directed to the Ambassador, but she was not in Spain. Therefore, the Chargé d'Affaires attended the ministry's headquarters on her behalf, as he was the highest-ranking official at the embassy at that time.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified Sánchez's statements by referring to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which affirms that the absence of the Ambassador and the presence of the Chargé d'Affaires "does not change at all" the nature or diplomatic value of the summons.
