Will Morocco Return Back To The African Union After 32 Years Of Withdrawal ?

After more than three decades of absence, Morocco stunned observers by announcing its desire to return to the African Union, after it has knocked the doors of this body, which was called the “Organization of African Unity”, following the joining of the Sahrawi Arab Republic, as a full rights member.

Moroccan desire was embodied in the letter that was addressed to the Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, on Sunday, to the Chad’s President, Idriss Déby Itno, as he is the current Chairman of the African Union, on the occasion of the 27th summit of the Union in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. 

Morocco’s King said that “Morocco is heading, on Tuesday, with determination and clarity, to return to the confines of his institutional family, and to continue to assume its responsibilities with greater enthusiasm and with all conviction”, stressing his country’s confidence “in the wisdom of the African Union, and his ability to get things back to normal, and to correct errors of the past”. 

Decision of the Moroccan authorities to return to the continental body, which it left in 1984, came “after deep thought, a decision of all the living forces of the Kingdom”, says Mohammed VI, who described the decision as “historic and responsible” .

Moroccan King spoke in detail to explain the reasons for his exit from the OAU institutions, asserting that his country did not accept this organization’s recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Republic, and decided to withdraw as a protesting attitude. 

He even went on too long to challenge the decision of recognizing the institutions of the African Union for the Arab Sahraoui Republic, trying to co-opt this body to go back on its decision, but he did not attack Algeria as usual, when he spoke about the dispute with the Sahrawis. 

He was keen to describe Algeria’s first President in the interim government, Farhat Abbas, as one of the “Strongest icons of the liberation of the African consciousness”, alongside with other famous African leaders, like his grandfather the late King Mohammed V, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Modibo Keita, Sekou Toure and Kwame Nkrumah, in a position that may be understood as a flirt with the western neighbour, because the Moroccan regime’s officials are accustomed to highlight all that is shameful and keep silent about what is good and useful. 

But the king, however, has not been decided about the return of his country to the Union, as long as the message carried the judgement or the charge that may not be acceptable to many of the African Union’s member countries, which is the presence of this body in “A clear conflicting position with international law”, and the reason is its recognition to the Sahrawi Arab Republic, which is proved by his question: “Will the African Union continue to insist on the violation of national positions of Member States? in reference to the continuing acceptance of Western Sahara’s membership in the African Union institutions. 

Morocco’s flirt to Algeria and the African Union came after the Moroccan remarkable step that was embodied by the visit of Nasser Bouria, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Moroccan Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, at the head of a large delegation to Algeria, carrying a message from the Moroccan monarch, to the Algerian President, a visit which was read by observers as a Moroccan attempt to drag Algeria and push it towards supporting its return to the institutions of the African Union, or at least avoid obstructing this decision, given the weight of Algeria in this continental body.

Remaining and stumbling block that is facing Rabat’s return to the African Union, is the membership of the Sahrawi Arab Republic, something that may not satisfy Morocco, because its withdrawal was due to that.