“I am finally home,” King Mohammed VI said today as the African Union readmitted Morocco after a 33-year absence. The contentions were due to the issues with Western Sahara, its neighbouring country. Though not resolved yet, they are left for another day.
There was a stiff resistance from countries such as South Africa and Algeria over the status of the disputed former Spanish colony.
Morocco’s return came a day after 39 of the AU’s 54 member states agreed to allow it back in the fold, despite stiff resistance from countries such as South Africa and Algeria over the status of the disputed former Spanish colony.
“It is a beautiful day when one returns home after too long an absence,” Mohammed VI told the closing ceremony of the AU summit in Ethiopia.
Morocco quit the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1984 after the bloc admitted the former Western Sahara as a separate member. Morocco maintains that the territory under its control — which is home to large reserves of phosphate, a key ingredient in fertilisers, as well as rich fish stocks off its coast — is an integral part of the kingdom.
But the Polisario Front, which campaigns for independence, demands a referendum on self-determination for the territory of half a million residents.
“From the moment that Morocco did not impose conditions … We take their word for it and accept that Morocco be admitted to the African Union,” said Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, foreign minister of the SADR, which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara.
The European Union has welcomed the move, saying: “Cooperation and regional integration are essential for prosperity, stability and peace.” King Mohammed in his speech, highlighted Morocco as, “one of the most developed African nations”, could be a boon to the continent. “We do not ignore the fact that we do not have unanimity in this noble assembly. We do not want to create divisions as some have insinuated,” he said. Morocco will be “a motor for common economic growth”, he vowed.
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