Senegal and Morocco, close ties
Morocco has strong ties with Senegal. The latest proof of this is the fact that the Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, was the only leader of a nation outside the region to be invited to the inauguration of the new Senegalese president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Morocco was ultimately represented by the head of government, Aziz Akhannouch, but Mohammed VI was the only head of state from outside the region to receive a formal invitation to attend Bassirou Diomaye Faye's inauguration.
Aziz Akhannouch was in charge of representing King Mohammed VI in Diamniadio, a city in the Dakar region, at the inauguration ceremony of the new president of the Republic of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who became the youngest Senegalese president, succeeding former president Macky Sall, despite representing the opposition to the long government led by Sall himself. Macky Sall did not stand for re-election, leaving his party's representation to Amadou Ba, who lost the election to Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who just two weeks before the elections was even in prison.
The new president himself described himself as "the option of rupture" with the established power, but called for "national reconciliation" after several years of instability and political crisis. All of this after winning the first round of the presidential elections on 24 March against Amadou Ba with 54.28% of the vote, compared to 35.79% for the ruling party's candidate.
Aziz Akhannouch visited Senegal accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Resident Abroad, Nasser Bourita, in accordance with the directives of King Mohammed VI, following the latter's invitation to attend the inauguration of the new Senegalese president.
This invitation to the Alawi monarch reflects, once again, the depth of the ties of brotherhood, solidarity and appreciation that unite Morocco and Senegal. This invitation also indicates the depth of the exceptional and multidimensional partnership that exists between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Senegal in all areas.
The swearing-in ceremony of the new Senegalese president took place in the presence of several heads of state, presidents of the commissions of the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
African regional promotion
In his speech on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the Green March, King Mohammed VI himself launched Morocco's initiative to invest in the country's Atlantic coast, starting from the Sahara, in order to make Atlantic Africa a new area of great influence in international politics and economics.
The objective was clear: to focus Morocco's strategy on rehabilitating the nation's Atlantic façade from Western Sahara; highlighting its geopolitical value as a response to what the Alawite monarch described as "manoeuvres of the unmasked, hidden and disappeared adversaries of the Sahara issue", turning it into a region and a space for development, security and stability.
All this by favouring access for the surrounding African countries and the Sahel to the Atlantic Ocean in order to promote their commercial and economic development.
King Mohammed VI noted at the time that 'if the Mediterranean coast is a link between Morocco and Europe, the Atlantic coast is Morocco's gateway to Africa and its window to the American space', adding that 'this is the origin of our commitment to rehabilitate the coastal area at the national level, including the Atlantic coast of the Moroccan Sahara, and to structure this geopolitical space at the African level'.
Senegal is one of the countries in this West African region that can benefit from this African development initiative towards the Atlantic, in which Morocco is actively involved due to its geopolitical situation. A geopolitical movement that brings two partner and allied countries, Senegal and Morocco, even closer together.