Royal Moroccan Airlines Assigns Two French Lawyers To Sue Abdelkader Messahel

Royal Moroccan Airlines plans to lodge a complaint with the French judiciary against Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel on January 20th 2018, and has also hired three lawyers to make him found guilty for “insulting” the Airline Company.

“The judicial file to be set up by the Moroccan Monarchy has been finalized and will be submitted shortly to the office of the Dean of Magistrates in Paris. 

For this purpose, two French lawyers specialized in the press law have been appointed,” Jeune Afrique magazine quoted sources as saying. A Moroccan lawyer described by Jeune Afrique as “close to the Royal Palace”.

A week ago, France’s M6 television channel revealed that “a meeting held at the Moroccan Royal Palace in Casablanca between the management of Laram, Moroccan lawyers and a prominent French law firm to determine the merits of the legal follow-up was scheduled so as to be filed against Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Abdelkader Messahel.

During his speech at the Summer Forum of Heads of Enterprises (FCE) in Algiers, the Algerian senior diplomat discounted Morocco as purportedly being a model for the region in the field of investment and economy.

He accused Moroccan banks of “laundering the money of cannabis,” stressing that the Royal Airline Company” doesn’t carry travelers only through its flights to African countries, in reference to “its involvement in the transfer of drugs”.

His comments sparked off a wide debate, as Morocco summoned its Ambassador to Algeria to consult on these statements, before returning him to his post.

In an earlier statement, Royal Air Marocco expressed its condemnation of Mr. Messahel’s statement, saying that his statement “reflects an ignorance of the air transport sector as a highly regulated area by competent international bodies at the highest level”.

However, in a reaction, the Algerian Premier Mr. Ahmed Ouyahia firmly said: “We support our Government 100 percent”. “We support Algerian diplomacy and stand behind it completely. If there is any anger from our neighbors, this is their own problem, and not our problem”.

Despite the new “diplomatic crisis” between the two countries, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia hailed Morocco’s King Mohammed VI during their recent encounter at the African Union-European Union Summit held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. 

The Moroccan press quoted Mr Ouyahia as saying: Peace be upon you, Mr. President, this is a natural thing between our neighbors. We express the peace of the Algerian people for our brothers in the Moroccan kingdom”.

Mr Ouyahia rejected the multiple readings that accompanied his shaking hands with Moroccan King Mohammed VI in Abidjan and told reporters that what he had done was “normal behavior”.