An unnamed African “high-ranking” diplomat has told Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya TV that African countries will soon hold an emergency meeting to look into disagreements over the status of the Western Sahara region.
It follows walkouts by officials from seven Arab nations plus Somalia at the Africa-Arab summit in Equatorial Guinea.
Morocco is in de facto control of the territory but the Polisario Front has declared an independent state there. This is recognised by the African Union (AU), which Morocco now wants to rejoin after an absence of more than 30 years.
Saudi Ambassador to the Arab League Ahmed Qattan said that his country rejected all that “affects Moroccan sovereignty” before withdrawing from the summit, Moroccan news website Hespress reported.
Bahrain’s foreign minister said that Morocco has a “bright history” of supporting African countries in time of need, adding that a “failed separatist movement will never rise up to [Morocco’s] dear position and gallant stance”, Jordan-based and privately-owned Al-Haqiqah al-Dawliyyah TV reported.
On the other side of the issue, the Algerian foreign minister described the partially-recognised Sahrawi Republic as a “founding member” of the AU, Hespress reported.
The website of the privately-owned Algerian newspaper Echourouk El Youmi accused Morocco of “booby-trapping” the Arab-African summit in one of its headlines.
Echourouk described Rabat’s withdrawal as a “warning message” paving the way for the “crises” to come should the country return to the AU.
Morocco’s membership in the AU has been suspended since 1984, when it withdrew after the union recognised the independence of Western Sahara.
The independence of Western Sahara has long been a contentious issue between Morocco and Algeria, as Algeria backs the Polisario Front.
Source: BBC Photo Credit: AFP
