President Francois Hollande of France held a meeting Friday at the Elysée with King Mohammed VI to whom he expressed thanks for the “effective assistance” extended by Morocco to his country, following the Paris terror attacks of last Friday.
“The President of the French Republic expressed his thanks to HM King Mohammed VI for the effective assistance provided by Morocco following last Friday attacks,” the King’s Cabinet underlined in a statement.
During the meeting, the two heads of State voiced the shared determination of France and Morocco to jointly fight terrorism and radicalization and to endeavor to settle regional and international crises, the statement said.
The meeting took place in the wake of last Friday Paris terror attacks that left 129 dead and over 350 injured and after the French police killed on Wednesday the ringleader behind these attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.
Morocco has played an instrumental role in dismantling the terror cell that was hiding in St Denis, as Moroccan intelligence services told French authorities that the Belgian-Moroccan terrorist Abdelhamid Abaaoud was probably in France and not abroad as thought.
The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, confirmed on Thursday that the information used to locate the terrorists’ hideout were provided by a non-European country.
The French official did not name Morocco, but several media outlets said he was referring to the North African country.
During their meeting at the Elysée, President Hollande and King Mohammed VI also “reaffirmed their full mobilization to the preservation of the planet and the success of the International Climate Conference, COP21 due in Paris at the end of the month and COP22 scheduled to be held in Morocco in 2016,” the statement said.
