Morocco joining the African Union will be messy

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 22:00:00 +0000

It was such a bad tempered and bitter departure 32 years ago that it is hardly surprising the return, if it happens at all, will be messy.

Morocco surprised many at the African Union summit in Kigali earlier this week, saying it wants to join the African Union

The host, President Paul Kagame, was not among those taken aback.

He received Morocco’s King Mohammed VI as an honoured guest in his capital earlier this year and conferred Rwanda’s high civic honour on the man known as M6.

Neither, presumably, did Morocco’s intention come out of the blue for the 28 African states that have supported the Kingdom becoming a member of the Africa Union.

Senegal is foremost among these.

President Macky Sall refers euphemistically to Morocco’s “independence tussle “with Western Sahara.

He spells out that the Kingdom wants the African- Union- recognised Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) suspended from the African Union before it is admitted.

African powers like Algeria and South Africa find such a notion absolutely preposterous.

They take the conventional view that Morocco invaded the Western Sahara in 1976 and has been in illegal occupation of the country ever since.

The recognition of the SADR by the Organization of African Union in 1984 caused Morocco to walk out in a high dugeon.

The Kingdom has elected to be the only African country not to be a member of the continental body.

It continued this stance in 2002 when the African Union evolved out of the OAU.

The AU position is that the Western Sahara is the last colonial question in Africa.

So, Morocco has to end its occupation of the SADR is it wants to join the AU.

It would be impossible to come into the African fold as a colonial oppressor.

And it certainly cannot expect to be embraced by the continent do this at the expense of established AU member the SADR.

The United States would like to see Morocco join the AU. It regards this as a “very important” step of a “strategic partner” of the USA that would “benefit the whole continent”.

However Washington has steered clear of talking about Moroccoo’s illegal occupation of an AU member.

In a message to the Kigali summit , King Mohammed VI said “Morocco’s friends have long been asking the Kingdom to return among them so that Morocco may take its natural place within its institutional family. That time has now come”

The King said Morocco would join the AU with without precondition – leaving it to its supporters to specify the desire for the expulsion of a member state.

The United Nations Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon refers to Morocco’s presence in the Western Sahara as an occuption.

Saharawi’s have been driven into refugee camps in Algeria, resulting in a humanitarian crisis.

So angered was Morocco by the Secretary General’s language that it expelled UN peacekeepers from areas of the occupied country under its control.

The action was denounced by the African Union for setting a “dangerous precedent” and threatening regional peace with recklessness and disregard for the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination,

The AU expects an apology from Morocco, adding that Morocco’s membership of the AU cannot come without pre-conditions.

At the very least, Morocco would have to keep its promise made when a delicate peace was brokered with the Saharawi guerrilla known as the Polisario Front in 1991to have a referendum in the SADR.

The Saharawi accept there may a case to be be made that no- one has a right to deny Morocco a seat in the African Union.

However, it is adamant that no one has a right to deny the SADR its sovereignty if that is what its people desire.

“Modern Africa cannot pretend to be blind to modern colonialism, violent and vile in nature. This situation should be fixed. Welcome back Morocco, but there is a lot of work to be done.”

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Zuma expresses condolences for Abdelaziz’s passing

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Tue, 31 May 2016 22:00:00 +0000

President Jacob Zuma’s joined peers expressing condolences to the people of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic on the death of President Mohamed Abdelaziz.

He says Abdelaziz committed his life to the struggle for the independence of the Saharawi people from colonialism.

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President Jacob Zuma’s tribute to his Saharawi counterpart refers to Mohamed Abdelaziz’s fight against Spanish colonialism followed the invasion of his country by Morocco that has occupied it for more than 40 years.

Zuma says South Africa remains committed to continue supporting the inalienable right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara through the UN-led negotiations and with the support of the African Union.

South Africa’s establishing diplomatic ties with the Western Sahara led Morocco to withdraw its ambassador to Pretoria and its refusal to join the African Union that recognizes the SADR

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Morocco joining the African Union will be messy

Zuma expresses condolences for Abdelaziz’s passing