The country slammed the door of the pan-African organization in 1984 to protest against the admission of the Polisario Front separatists. Today, Rabat is falling into line.
After 33 years of absence, Morocco returns home. The country has regained its place within the African Union (AU) on the occasion of the organization’s 28th summit.
« How good it is to go home », exclaimed Mohammed VI at Addis Ababa, welcoming the return of his country to the African Union. “Africa is my continent, and my home. I am finally returning home, and happy to find you again. I missed you all.”
The kingdom will formally become the 55th member of the AU « when it has deposited its instruments of ratification », according to delegates on site.
Forced cohabitation between the kingdom and the Polisario Front
Meeting at a summit in Addis Ababa, African heads of state ratified the reintegration of the kingdom on Monday, behind closed doors and following a tense debate. Thirty-nine countries (out of 54) voted for unconditional readmission. The reintegration took place despite resistance from Algeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe, traditional supporters of the Polisario Front.
Morocco left the pan-African organization 33 years ago to mark its disagreement on the question of Western Sahara: It thus protested against the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), proclaimed by the separatists of the Polisario Front in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that Rabat controls and considers its own.
In Rabat, the decision was hailed as a “historic” victory, but it now raises the question of forced cohabitation between the kingdom and the Polisario Front within the organization. “The Sahrawi Republic welcomes Morocco” which will now “sit alongside us”, greeted the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the SADR, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek.
