Rabat- Following the recent rumors that Salaheddine Mezouar , Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, is a French citizen, Mezouar stresses that he doesn’t have a double citizenships. Allegations that he held French citizenship were brought up to explain his soft reaction during the last diplomatic crisis between Morocco and France.
On Monday, the Moroccan daily newspaper Annas revealed that Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, has a French citizenship. The newspaper claimed that his dual citizenship explains why he reacted indifferently when high-ranking Moroccan officials were subject to humiliation in France.
Annas asked why Mezouar did not protest when he was humiliated at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport, where he was forced to remove his coat, belt, and other footwear. The newspaper claimed that “Mezouar did not protest against this humiliation because he is French and respects the law of his country (France). “
Moreover, the newspaper said that Salaheddine Mezouar , when he was a Minister of Finance and the Economy for the government of Abbas El Fassi, “presented his French passport to agents in an airport in Mexico, but they refused it, and requested his Moroccan passport.”
Following these claims, Salaheddine Mezouar clarified in a statement to Moroccan news agency MAP that Annas reported “untrue and discredited claims.”
“I don’t have a French citizenship. I only have the Moroccan citizenship. I am proud of it, and ready to serve my nation and my king,’’ he stressed. Mezouar concluded that this rumor, which has affected his dignity and the external image of the Kingdom, is “a serious deviation from journalistic ethics.”
Edited by Timothy Filla