Ikea could not be reached for a comment on Tuesday. But the Interior Ministry issued a statement Tuesday morning saying the store lacks the necessary “certificate of conformity” and can not open until it obtains one.
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Moroccan authorities haven’t elaborated on the last-minute decision, but according to Le 360, a news Web site perceived as close to the Moroccan royal court, the real reason for the closing may be geopolitical: Ikea, a company founded in Sweden and deeply associated with the country, is being punished over Swedish support for the Western Saharan independence movement.
Western Sahara, is a disputed region located to the south of Morocco that both the Moroccan government and the breakaway Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) lay claim to.
It is not clear if the obstruction of the project is permanent, or whether the Swedish furniture giant will be able to open the store at a later date; the new store is the first of five the company meant to open in Morocco, following the launch of a nationwide marketing campaign on September 1. Ikea, which was started in Sweden and now has its headquarters in the Netherlands, owns and operates 373 stores in 57 countries.
Sweden and other Scandinavian countries have been supporters of Western Saharan self-determination, while France and Spain have been accused by activists and human rights organisations of supporting the Moroccan side. The freshly painted blue-and-yellow complex stands shuttered, its vast parking lot largely empty but for a few delivery trucks.
The dispute over Western Sahara’s independence goes back 40 years. Morocco controls the western coastal region while the SADR hold the east. In 1991, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Morocco and the SADR following a 15-year civil war.
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Algeria and Morocco have been at odds over Western Sahara since Rabat occupied the former Spanish colony in 1975, with Algiers backing the Polisario Front.
