African Union to debate Morocco’s bid to rejoin bloc

ADDIS ABABA: African Union leaders meet in Ethiopia on Monday for a difficult summit likely to expose regional divisions as they debate whether to allow Morocco to rejoin the bloc, and vote for a new chairperson.

The two-day summit comes after several shake-ups on the international stage: the election of US President Donald Trump and a new head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, who will address the opening of the assembly.

On Sunday in Addis Ababa, Guterres praised Ethiopia’s generosity in welcoming refugees from the region while battling its worst drought in 50 years.

It is “an example that I would say needs to be thought about in a world where unfortunately so many borders are being closed,” he said in a veiled dig at the US ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, including Libya, Somalia and Sudan in Africa.

Uncertainty over Africa’s relationship with Trump’s America is one of several issues demanding the attention of AU leaders -- from turmoil in Libya, radical Islamism in Mali, Somalia and Nigeria, to stagnating peace efforts in South Sudan.

However Monday’s talks will be dominated by Morocco’s bid to return to the fold 33 years after it quit in protest against the AU’s decision to accept Western Sahara as a member.

The membership of affluent Morocco could be a boon for the AU, which lost a key financier in late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi and is working hard to become financially independent.

Currently foreign donors account for some 70 percent of its budget, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). — AFP