Morocco to rejoin African Union after 33 years

RABAT: After leaving the panAfrican organisation three decades ago, Morocco is set to rejoin the African Union during its 28th African summit scheduled for January 3031 in Addis Ababa. Morocco in 1984 decided to withdraw from the Organisation of African Unity, which later became the AU. Morocco has since then refused to be part of the organisation, but recently it changed its policy, making the re-admission to the AU on the top of its agenda, Xinhua news agency reported.

King Mohammed VI in July last year sent a message to the 27th AU summit in Kigali, saying his country “should not remain outside its African institutional family, and it should regain its natural, rightful place within the AU”.

Explaining the reasons for returning to the pan-African organisation, the king cited “the repeated call of many African friends of the kingdom as well as a thorough reflection”. He also stressed that from within, “Morocco will contribute to making the AU a more robust organisation, one that is both proud of its credibility and relieved of the trappings of an obsolete era”. Two months after the king’s message to the African leaders, the North African kingdom in September formally submitted a request to re-join the continental body. The request was submitted after it received the support of a group of 28 AU member states, representing more than the majority of the 54 African Union member states required for admission.

Following this request, the Moroccan king toured numerous African countries. Consequently, the kingdom raised the total of supporters to its bid to 40 as was announced by Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar during a parliamentary session to review constitutive act of AU a week earlier.