Morocco and Egypt work to restore 'normal' relations after fallout

Morocco's Ambassador to Egypt Saad al-Alami said Sunday that contacts are underway between Cairo and Rabat to restore relations, after a recent diplomatic row between the two countries.

"Contacts are ongoing between the two sides [Egypt and Morocco] to gradually bring relations back to normal," al-Alami told The Anadolu Agency over the phone.

"Both Cairo and Rabat are determined to overcome the recent events and restore relations through containing the problem and working on resolving it," he said.

Al-Alami refrained from commenting on whether the foreign ministers of both countries would be meeting soon, after reports on 6 January that a meeting was imminent. 

Relations between the two North African states came under strain earlier this month, when Moroccan state television described the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in mid-2013 as a "military coup."

It was the first time for Moroccan state media to describe Morsi's ouster by the military in mid-2013 as a "coup."

The broadcaster also described Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who led the army's ouster of Morsi, as a "coup leader."