Some years ago I had the pleasure of driving a minister of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and her ambassador from Durban to Johannesburg.

Several times along the N3, she said: “Look at this world class infrastructure. Do you know what you have? Do you appreciate it.”

I recall feeling rather proud and expressed the wish that one day the Saharawis too could  have a motorway across their desert land. 

What might the minister have said had we been traveling along the road on Sunday?

With the burning trucks, it might have reminded her of the war her people have fought to rid their country of Moroccan occupation.

Together with arterial roads closed by demonstrators in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in recent days, they are certainly not showpieces for a developing country heading for prosperity.

How do we explain this motorway mayhem to potential investors or tourists?

The authorities warned motorists on Sunday not to use the N3 at night.

Their caution is laudable, even though it sends a dire message to potential investors in and visitors to South Africa.

Such caution is invariably expressed by countries concerned about the well-being of their citizens abroad.

It invariably attracts fury from the targets of their warnings because it tends to deter tourism.

We saw this last month when Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu  angrily responded to a travel advisory from Australia.

She says it casts a slur on the country. 

Sisulu appears to have been responding to media  reports rather than  facts.

The Australian travel advisory was first issued in the year 2000.

True, it advises travelers to South Africa  to exercise a high degree of  caution.

Actually, it places South Africa on the second lowest degree of danger – in the same category as  countries like Belgium and France.

In much the same way as an advisory would use a health ministry warning of cholera to urge travelers take health precautions, the Australian document uses material from SAPS annual reports  to advise of the potential of murder,  rape, mugging and robbery.

The advisory has been updated to include water shortages in the Western Cape – again using language  deployed by the local authority.

I remember after contracting malaria in Zimbabwe , I asked the South Africa health authorities in high dudgeon: why did no-one warm me?

True, there were posters at the border posts. Surely I have a right to expect more from a caring government?

If you are traveling to a country where protestors make nocturnal travel hazardous, would you not expect your own people to tell you so?

It is axiomatic that there are good things and bad things about any destination: from insect-born lurgies and pickpockets to dread diseases and flat out terrorists.

The simple answer to avoiding them is stay home.

If you can’t or won’t accept this option, arm yourself with the information you need for your security. Above all: don’t shoot the messenger.

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The three organizations will accelerating the assisted voluntary returns to countries of origin, and the resettlement of those in need of international protection.

The plight of would-be migrants from Africa to Europe dominates discussion among delegates at the African Union European Union summit in Abidjan.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio  Guterres who has come to pay tribute to what calls a strong and essential pillar of global coopertion, recognizes this

He says its vital to combat traffickers and smugglers of migrants but the tragedies in the Mediterranean will not end without the creation of significant opportunities for legal migration.

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The the request was made to the AU Commission Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Morocco angrily stormed out of the AU’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity in 1984 after it recognized the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Morocco has illegally occupied the Western Sahara it invaded  in 1975.

It never joined the AU established in 2001

AU commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma says due process will be followed and the Kingdom of Morocco will be officially notified of the outcome.

It is not clear whether joining the AU will require Morocco to recognize the government in exile of the country it occupies.

African powers like South Africa and Nigeria are expected to demand this.

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Morocco’s decision to build a road in the buffer zone with the area its occupies illegally has caused armed clashes with Saharawi fighters.

A ceasefire negotiated in 1991 between Morocco and the armed wing of the Saharawi people, the Polisario Front ended 17 years of fighting following Morocco’s invasion and occupation of the territory.

That truce has been monitored by a UN force known as MINURSO.

Morocco has several times reneged on promises to allow the Saharawi people to determine their future by way of a referendum.

Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic President Jatri Adduh has expressed his disquiet to the United Nations Security Council about Morocco’s failure to make any progress on this as ordered in a resolution by the UN powerhouse in April.

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The kingdom walked out of the continental body’s predecessor 32 years ago when the Organisation of Africa  recognised the government in the Western Sahara illegally occupied by Sahara for 40 years.

A Moroccan special envoy is is Kigali where African leaders start their summit to tomorrow.

Moroccan officials won’t say if King Mohammed VI will attend the summit.

His country is the only one on the African continent  not to belong to the AU

Host President Paul Kagami, who’s to become the next AU president  visited Morocco last month where he was decorated by  King Mohammed.

Joining the AU would require recognising  the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which Morocco has resumed to do,  just as it has broken its promise to allow a referendum enabling the people of the occupied territory to determine their future.

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