{"id":66181,"date":"2026-01-23T18:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-king-advocates-african-unity-after-afcon-clashes"},"modified":"2026-01-23T19:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:24:37","slug":"moroccos-king-advocates-african-unity-after-afcon-clashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-king-advocates-african-unity-after-afcon-clashes","title":{"rendered":"Morocco&#8217;s King Advocates African Unity After AFCON Clashes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Morocco\u2019s King Mohammed VI says African fraternity will prevail after what he called \u201cdeplorable\u201d acts that marred the closing minutes of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Senegal.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The final was overshadowed by controversy after Senegal\u2019s players briefly walked off the pitch in protest over a VAR-awarded penalty, before returning to win 1\u20130 after extra time. Clashes later broke out as groups of Senegalese fans tried to enter the pitch, confronting Moroccan security.<\/p>\n<p>In a palace statement, the king said the incidents were regrettable, but stressed that once emotions subside, inter-African brotherhood will naturally take over. He underlined the deep historic ties between Morocco and Senegal and said nothing would undermine cooperation built across the continent.<\/p>\n<p>The king also praised the tournament itself, calling it a success for all of Africa and a showcase of Morocco\u2019s development. He congratulated citizens nationwide for their mobilisation, saying their efforts helped deliver a peaceful, festive and internationally praised event.<\/p>\n<p>Africa\u2019s football body CAF says it will take appropriate action after reviewing the incidents, while FIFA president Gianni Infantino condemned the behaviour of some Senegalese players and staff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Morocco\u2019s King Mohammed VI says African fraternity will prevail after what he called \u201cdeplorable\u201d acts that marred the closing minutes of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Senegal. The final was overshadowed by controversy after Senegal\u2019s players briefly walked off the pitch in protest over a VAR-awarded penalty, before [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":66180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[1436,245,7082,239],"class_list":["post-66181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-afcon","tag-lesotho","tag-mohammed-vi","tag-morocco"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Morocco&#039;s King Advocates African Unity After AFCON Clashes - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. Morocco\u2019s King Mohammed VI s ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-king-advocates-african-unity-after-afcon-clashes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Morocco&#039;s King Advocates African Unity After AFCON Clashes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. 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