Rabat has withdrawn its ambassador and consulates in the UAE, due to the Emirati authorities’ reluctance for a whole year to appoint an ambassador in Rabat to fill the vacancy. Local websites, including Maghreb Intelligence and Rue20, said that “an unprecedented diplomatic crisis has erupted between Morocco and the UAE, as Morocco has withdrawn, since last week, its ambassador to Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Ait Ali, who has been in office for more than nine years. Thus, the Moroccan consulates in Dubai and Abu Dhabi were also summoned. ” According to the same sources, “Rabat has also emptied its embassy (in Abu Dhabi) by summoning all the consultants and Chargé d’Affaires, which greatly reduced its diplomatic representation in the UAE.” (https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200312-morocco-withdraws-ambassador-from-abu-dhabi/) Media reports attributed the reason for this development, quoting an unnamed Moroccan official, to the position of the UAE’s failure to appoint an ambassador to Morocco for about a year.