The heads of state members of the pan-African organization meeting on Monday, January 30 behind closed doors, in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, accepted the reintegration of the Cherifian kingdom. This is the culmination of long diplomatic work carried out by Rabat across the continent.
“History: Morocco is admitted to the African Union (AU)”, announces TelQuel. After intense lobbying orchestrated by Rabat since the last AU summit in July 2016, “the African Union Conference ended up reaching [Monday January 30] the consensus which validates the admission of Morocco to the AU,” continues the Moroccan weekly.
“After heated debates”, the return of Morocco was finally supported by 39 African countries “while the kingdom had previously counted 42 favorable votes” out of a total of 54, notes the Moroccan site. And to point out that the reservations, which had been brought by the South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the outgoing president of the AU commission, “during the closed-door work found in the person of the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, a fierce spokesperson”.
Dlamini-Zuma will be replaced by Moussa Faki Mahamat, 56, Chadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, trusted man of Chadian President Idriss Déby. Mahamat was elected on January 30 as head of the African Union commission “following a marathon vote of seven rounds to decide between the candidates,” reports Le Desk.
Historical speech
The question of whether “the Moroccan delegation would be able to sit and wear its colors from January 31, the last day of the conclave of heads of state” was the subject of numerous questions.
Finally, the new president of the AU, Alpha Condé (the Guinean president designated on January 30 to succeed his Chadian counterpart Idriss Déby as rotating president of the organization), invited the King of Morocco to make a speech before the closing of the summit. This speech by King Mohammed VI has been described as historic. The King also attended the swearing-in ceremony of the Chairman of the AU Commission, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat.
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Ultimately, the question would be how cohabitation will be organized within the Union between Morocco and the Polisario, strongly supported by Algeria and which contests the sovereignty of Rabat over Western Sahara. Note that in 1984, it was the admission into the Union of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), proclaimed by the Polisario Front in Western Sahara, which caused Morocco’s departure. And before requesting its reintegration, Morocco first tried to exclude the SADR from the Union.
On this subject, the Algerian daily Liberté reports the words of the Senegalese President, Macky Sall: « Even if the question of Western Sahara remains a question asked, […] as a family we can continue to find solutions. The admission has been made, and that is the most important thing. Today, Morocco is an integral member of the African Union. »
The representative of the SADR, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, Sahrawi Minister of Foreign Affairs, also quoted by Liberté, for his part affirmed: “The Sahrawi Republic welcomes Morocco which will sit alongside the SADR, and all African states, including those friendly to Morocco, have affirmed that they will work so that the Sahrawi Republic and Morocco resolve their conflict.”
