Bolivia, Morocco angry with Norway

Bolivian officials are furious after a young Norwegian woman, armed with a newly issued Norwegian passport in a new name, fled drug charges and flew home to Norway over the weekend. Morocco’s ambassador to Norway, meanwhile, was also angry this week after two members of Norwegian special forces were cleared of any charges tied to [...]

Diplomatic protest from Morocco

Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri called in Norwegian journalists for a meeting in Rabat, to repeat his government’s charges that Norwegian officials acted illegally when they got involved in a custody battle over the children of former Moroccan Olympic gold medalist Khalid Skah and his former Norwegian wife, Anne Cecilie Hopstock. She arranged to smuggle the children out [...]

Morocco wants to see Norwegian diplomats punished

A diplomatic conflict continued Wednesday after Moroccan officials demanded that Norwegian diplomats involved in the flight of two Norwegian-Moroccan children be punished. A statement from the Moroccan foreign ministry claimed that Norwegian diplomats “had committed serious offenses that cannot go unpunished.” Norwegian foreign ministry officials have claimed that the children, caught in a bitter custody battle between [...]

‘Unacceptable’ that soldiers are for hire

Defense Minister Grete Faremo says it’s “unacceptable” for Norwegian military personnel to take part in private security operations, even when they’re on holiday. It’s becoming more clear, however, that such freelance activity through “informal networks of colleagues” is nothing new. The question is whether Faremo can stop or even control it. Faremo and her own [...]

Use of special forces in custody dispute sparks ‘diplomatic crisis’

A bitter custody dispute involving a Norwegian woman and her ex-husband, a former Moroccan sports star, led to the use of Norwegian special forces to spirit the couple’s children back to Norway last summer, reported newspaper VG over the weekend. Now the entire affair is setting off what some are calling a “scandal” involving three [...]

Custody dispute sets off diplomatic incident

A custody dispute over two teenagers with dual Norwegian and Moroccan citizenship has turned into a diplomatic incident, involving charges of kidnapping and death threats against Norway’s ambassador to Morocco. The kidnapping charges are being hurled by both sides in the dispute, with the Norwegian ex-wife of former Olympic athlete Khalid Skah initially claiming that [...]