Rabat – A phone call between Morocco’s foreign minister and the US under secretary of state for political affairs has reconfirmed the two countries’ commitment to diplomacy to strengthen their bilateral cooperation.
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale spoke to Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita to discuss matters of public diplomacy and bilateral relations.
The two officials discussed the productive bilateral relations between Morocco and the US, highlighting their shared goals in the MENA region. Morocco’s hosting of delegations of the Libyan High Council of State and the Tobruk-based Parliament received special attention.
The inter-Libyan dialogue in Bouznika, Morocco, has been warmly received by a number of observers and front-seat actors in the Libyan crisis. Echoing the widespread consensus about Morocco’s vital role in resolving the Libyan crisis , Hale described the Bouznika dialogue as a victory for diplomacy and a constructive step towards e peace in Libya.
The cordial conversation between the two top diplomats followed a statement of the US Embassy in Libya on the same day. The statement officially welcomed the progress made in Bouznika and congratulated the participants of the dialogue sessions. The sudden possibility of peace in Libya came as a surprise to many foreign policy experts who saw Libya as a proxy war with no clear end in sight.
Us-Morocco collaboration in Libya
The US has long supported Morocco’s efforts at diplomacy in Libya. As a neutral party to the conflict, Morocco initiated and brokered the 2015 Skhirat Agreements which provided a foundation for a peaceful resolution to the Libyan crisis.
According to analysts, Morocco and the US have long been engaged in behind-the-scenes negotiations to facilitate a politically negotiated solution in Libya.
They point out that the Libyan Dialogue in Bouznika was the result of weeks of diplomatic cooperation behind the scenes. The Head of the Libyan High Council of State, Khaled Al-Mishri visited Morocco at the end of July, setting the stage for a meeting with US, Egyptian and Turkish officials in the following weeks.
As such, the inter-Libyan dialogue in Morocco’s Bouznika is the culmination of the Moroccan diplomacy tendency to broker important diplomatic breakthroughs without the usual fanfare, away from the media circus.
Bouznika offers hope
Meanwhile, the US statement on the Bouznika dialogues was seconded by a statement on Facebook by the Embassy of Japan. The Japanese statement expressed hope that the dialogues would create “a dynamism contributing to consolidate the ceasefire in Libya which would be permanent, and advancing the political process to resolve the Libyan crisis.”
The Arab League also praised Morocco’s role in the Libyan dialogues on Friday. A press release by the international organization of Arab states welcomed the Bouznika agreements and called for continuing these productive efforts to unify the Libyan state and end the civil war. The statement highlighted Morocco’s role in facilitating the dialogues and offering hope for a lasting solution to the Libyan conflict.
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