Morocco Overhauls Embassy Staff in Spain Amid Diplomatic Shake-up

People close to Karima Benyaich should soon leave their positions at the embassy in Madrid. Specifically, advisers Ibrahim Khalil Alaoui and Mohamed Amine Tekaia, Benyaich’s trusted men who have accompanied her since her post in Portugal, will be swept away by this wave of reform at the Moroccan embassy in Spain, Ok Diario believes, adding that the chargé d’affaires, Farid Oulhaj, who has already reached retirement age, would also be affected.

To read: Morocco’s Ambassador Criticizes Spanish Foreign Minister Over Diplomatic Crisis

Karima Benyaich was recalled to Rabat since May for consultations. Diplomatic sources point out that the ambassador’s remarks against the Spanish government in the press were considered "very inopportune", "undiplomatic" and "aggressive", not to mention her constant threats of mass immigration, implying that the migration crisis in Ceuta in May was part of Morocco’s reprisals after the reception of Brahim Ghali in a hospital in Logroño.

To read: Morocco’s Ambassador to Spain Remains in Rabat Amid Diplomatic Tensions

Karima Benyaich is also criticized for her poor collaboration with some consular offices in Spain such as the one in Tarragona, as well as her "inability to make new friends for Morocco in Spain", apart from María Teresa Fernández de la Vega and Carmen Calvo, suspected of being involved in the Ghali affair, with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Gonzales Laya.

To read: article 51559

Karima Benyaich is part of the powerful Moroccan Benyaich-Baraka family, several members of which have been ambassadors to Spain. This is the case of her cousin, Abdeslam Baraka, ambassador until 2003, and her brother, Fadel Benyaich, whom she succeeded as ambassador in 2018.