Senegalese Prime Minister: 'Sport Too Weak to Define Morocco-Senegal Relations'
In a statement carrying deep political and diplomatic implications, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko affirmed that his current visit to the Kingdom of Morocco aims to establish a new vision for the historical relations between Dakar and Rabat. He stressed that the ties between the two countries transcend temporary calculations or fleeting emotions.
The visit comes a week after the controversial Africa Cup of Nations final, which saw significant uproar following Senegal's threat to withdraw due to a penalty awarded to the Moroccan national team.
Speaking during the Morocco-Senegal Joint High Commission meeting hosted in Rabat, Sonko stated: "This visit comes in a context charged with sporting emotions, unfortunate excesses, and images that were sometimes painful for two peoples bound by deep ties."
He added: "But its historical value lies precisely in the strong ability of the two sister nations not to allow emotions to dominate and determine the path. From this perspective, this move is not merely aimed at 'calming things down,' but at reaffirming that sport has not divided the two peoples."
Sonko further noted: "Sport tested their bonds, but it did not pit Senegal and Morocco against each other; rather, it put the intensity of national passion in a shared space to the test. The excesses observed here and there should neither be denied nor exaggerated, but rather reclassified as 'emotional excesses' resulting from enthusiasm, not as political or cultural rifts. Because sport, however exciting and passionate, is too weak to define the relations between the two nations and the two states."
He continued: "These are relations based on the antiquity of human, spiritual, economic, and cultural ties, and on the historical movement of people, knowledge, students, and entrepreneurs. It is a political trust built over the long term, above changes and circumstances; a bond between a state and a people that withstands events because it is rooted in shared history."
