RABAT: Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo visited Morocco on Thursday, the highest-ranking American official to travel there since the election of President Donald Trump.
Pompeo met his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita to discuss the “threat” posed by Iran’s attempts to “broaden its regional influence,” as well as the conflicts in Libya and unrest across the Sahel region, Bourita said in a statement.
The State Department has called Morocco an “essential partner” in Washington’s broader diplomatic strategy, which includes normalization of ties between Arab countries and Israel.
The visit followed Israeli media reports that the country’s officials were hoping for a “breakthrough” in normalizing ties with the North African country in the coming days.
Neither Pompeo nor Moroccan officials made any public mention of such efforts during his visit.
Egypt and Jordan remain the only Arab countries to have peace treaties and formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
“We have a great relationship between our two countries,” Pompeo said, as he began his meetings in Rabat. “We make our people safer in each of our two countries.”
The trip comes after Pompeo announced last month that the United States no longer considered Jewish settlements in the West Bank to be illegal.
The decision broke with decades of international consensus that the settlements are illegal and a major barrier to peace with the Palestinians.
The king of Morocco last month called for an end to “the policy of colonization in the occupied Palestinian territories” and reiterated his support for a two-state solution.
On Wednesday, Pompeo met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Portugal in talks dominated by policy on their arch-enemy Iran.
Pompeo said they “discussed efforts to counter Iran’s destabilising influence in the region, the importance of economic cooperation with regional partners and other issues related to Israel’s security.”
The US Secretary of State’s program was to include an audience with King Mohammed VI, but eventually the meeting was dropped, apparently due to Pompeo’s extended stay in Lisbon.
He did however meet Moroccan Interior Minister Abdellatif Hammouchi to discuss counter-terrorism efforts, before leaving for Washington on Thursday evening.
Pompeo visits Morocco in first since Trump election
Pompeo visits Morocco in first since Trump election
- Pompeo Moroccan met Interior Minister Abdellatif Hammouchi to discuss counter-terrorism efforts
- The king of Morocco last month called for an end to “the policy of colonization in the occupied Palestinian territories” and reiterated his support for a two-state solution
Main donor US unclear on UNRWA future, jettisoning it would leave black hole: Agency chief
- US President Trump’s administration has accused UNRWA staff of having links with Hamas
MUNICH: The United States is still not clear about how it sees the future role of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, its chief said on Friday, warning that jettisoning it would create a black hole similar to Iraq after 2003.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has accused UNRWA staff of having links with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, allegations UNRWA has vigorously disputed.
Washington was long UNRWA’s biggest donor, but froze funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
“There is no definitive answer, because the interest of the US is also to be successful in this process and if you get rid of an agency like ours before you have an alternative, you are also creating a huge black hole,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini told Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
“Remember what happened in Iraq in 2003 when the entire administration had been dismantled (following the US-led invasion). There was no alternative and people were left without any services,” he said in an interview.
UNRWA has functioned for decades as the main international agency providing for the welfare of millions of Palestinian descendants of those who fled or were driven from homes during the war around Israel’s 1948 founding.
Lazzarini, who leaves his post at the end of March, said UNRWA did not foresee any more cuts in the immediate term and it continued to offer public health and education services that no one else was really providing.
He urged Gulf Arab countries to increase their support because their contribution did not match their strong expression of solidarity with Palestinian refugees.
Israel accuses UNRWA of bias, and the Israeli parliament passed a law in October 2024 banning the agency from operating in the country and prohibiting officials from having contact with it. (Reporting by John Irish; editing by Mark Heinrich)
