Étiquette : African Union

  • 36th AU Summit: « Making Africa’s voice heard »

    Tags: Algeria, African Union, AU, 3rd Summit, cooperation, development,

    The African Union summit was held on February 18 and 19, 2023 in Addis Ababa, with the participation of the Prime Minister, Mr. Aïmene Benabderrahmane, in his capacity as representative of the President of the Republic, Supreme Head of armies, Minister of National Defence, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, alongside other leaders and delegations from African countries.

    The summit, organized under the slogan “Acceleration of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Zlecaf), addressed several issues of concern to the pan-African organization which celebrates its 60 years of existence. These issues essentially relate to international security and peace, terrorism, global warming, economic integration, food security, etc. Aware of the importance of consultation and common African action and the challenges to which it is confronted, in a particularly worrying global context, the President of the Republic instructed the Prime Minister to deliver a message addressing a number of themes including:

    International peace and security

    For the Head of State, the black continent faces “multifaceted and multidimensional threats that affect peace and security, such as the phenomenon of terrorism, wars, climate change, food, energy and health crises. These threats have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine…”. Faced with these threats and challenges, Africa must, more than ever, make its voice heard on the international scene and especially within the Security Council, the United Nations peace and security body responsible for issues of settlement of Conflicts.

    Thus, in a speech during the work of the ministerial meeting of the Committee of Ten of the African Union (AU) on the reform of the United Nations Security Council, held on the occasion of the 36th Summit of Heads of State and government of the AU, read on its behalf by the Prime Minister, Mr. Aïmene Benabderrahmane, Mr. President of the Republic did not fail, first of all, to salute « the spirit of continuous cooperation and the fruitful coordination established between the representatives of brotherly African countries in international and regional fora to make heard the voice and the unified position of Africa”. Efforts which aim « to obtain two permanent seats within the UN body and to increase its quota of representativeness at the level of non-permanent seats, from three to five seats.

    For our country, as for other African countries, a reform of the Security Council, he specifies, is imperative « to achieve a more representative and fairer world order ».

    Climate change: redefining priorities

    In another speech, this time on the report of the Committee of Heads of State and Government responsible for climate change, the President of the Republic insisted on the fact that « African countries must redefine their priorities in the fight against climate change, as a continent with a common destiny ».

    He insisted on the African strategy to fight against climate change, in anticipation of the next international deadlines, stressing that « far from any value judgment on the success or not of COP-27, we must understand the strategic change targeted by the developed countries, namely the construction of an international framework for climate action, far from the Rio principles, guaranteeing emerging countries their right to development ».

    The continent’s partners have defaulted on their financial commitments made in the « Paris agreement », while African countries are required to bear more than their capacities allow, which, he said, risks to « compromising our food and energy security ». Another point raised, the President of the Republic recommended giving the issue of financing for adaptation, loss and damage linked to climate change the same importance during the negotiation process within the framework of the agreement framework in order to obtain convincing results. If Africa has undertaken the creation at the continental level of a mechanism for protection against disaster risks and support for the adaptation strategy to support African countries in their efforts to deal with these phenomena.

    Regarding the fair energy transition, he reaffirmed the need « to adopt a process allowing the harmonization of climate requirements towards a priority of fighting poverty and guaranteeing a dignified life for our peoples, rejecting the widespread concept , that there is only one process to achieve this transition”. African countries certainly support or work towards accessing sustainable modes of production and consumption, based on low-emission technologies and techniques, but it is also « important to maintain a certain degree of rationality to guarantee the realization of the objectives of sustainable development, and this, according to the capacities of each country and region”.

    Finally, Mr. President affirmed that concerning the countries of the African continent, this initiative « had a favorable echo and considerable support during the Conference of Sharm El Sheikh, even if certain countries expressed some reservations », underlining that « we We have before us an opportunity to redefine this approach and make it a uniting factor of the ‘global South’”.

    The Libyan question: no effort will be spared

    The day before the AU summit, on February 17, 2023, a high-level meeting on Libya was held, an opportunity for the President of the Republic to highlight the « intensive and tireless » efforts made for reconciliation in Libya, welcoming « the new momentum launched recently to activate the inter-Libyan dialogue process and launch dialogue initiatives between the Libyan brothers, aimed at bringing views closer together, establishing mutual trust and broadening consensus. And to underline that « despite concerns about the crisis situation, optimism remains in order, given the goodwill displayed by the Libyan parties to overcome the hardships and make the supreme interest of the fatherland prevail ».

    Positive and satisfying steps have been taken, reflected in particular by « the return of the 5+5 Joint Military Committee to meetings after a long interruption, to follow up on the implementation of the decisions agreed upon concerning the withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign fighters, the ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners », in the sense that « the dangerous stage of political and security instability, the blockage of the negotiation process and the institutional split have put to the test all the gains made in the process of resolving the crisis in this neighboring country, given the serious repercussions on the security and stability of neighboring countries and the Sahel ».

    As far as it is concerned, Algeria has always « expressed its rejection of the logic of force » and called « for dialogue and reconciliation to prevail between all the components of the Libyan people », in addition to the fact that it condemns  » foreign interference in the internal affairs of this brotherly country and the involvement of several foreign parties in the violation of the arms import ban”.

    Also, from this rostrum, she renewed her call to foreign parties to respect Libyan national sovereignty, its territorial integrity and the sovereignty of decisions, convinced in this that « the lasting, comprehensive and definitive solution passes through a process enshrining the principle of national ownership, preserving the national unity of Libya and its sovereignty over all of its territories ».

    To this end, Algeria reaffirms its commitment to spare « no effort, within the framework of the Group of neighboring countries of Libya, in collaboration with the regional and international organizations concerned, to enable the Libyans to concretize the priorities of this stage important in order to preserve the security and stability of the neighboring countries, directly affected by the situation in this country ».

    US$1 billion for development projects in Africa

    On the occasion of this summit, the President of the Republic decided to grant one billion dollars to the Algerian Agency for International Cooperation for Solidarity and Development, intended for the financing of development projects in African countries.

    This approach stems from Algeria’s firm conviction that stability and security in Africa are closely linked to development.

    In the message of the President of the Republic, read from the rostrum by the Prime Minister, it is underlined: « I have decided to inject an amount of one billion US dollars for the benefit of the Algerian Cooperation Agency for solidarity and development for the financing of development projects in African countries, in particular integration projects or those capable of contributing to accelerating development in Africa”.

    El-Djeich N° 716 March 2023


    #Algeria #African_Union #AU #36th_summit

  • Western Sahara : The Troika effects on other crises

    Tags : Western Sahara, African Union, PSC, AUC, Morocco, Algeria, UNO, SADR,

    How the latest AU decision on Western Sahara could affect other crises

    At its 31st summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania the African Union (AU) decided to limit its own peace efforts in the Western Sahara in order to support the process led by the United Nations (UN). This support will be through a troika of heads of state, together with the AU Commission (AUC) chairperson. The move is a big win for Morocco, which believes the AU-led efforts are biased. However, it could set a precedent for other AU member states that disapprove of AU interventions.

    Morocco’s return to the AU and subsequent election to the Peace and Security Council (PSC) in January 2018 has brought a new dimension to the AU’s approach to the crisis in Western Sahara. In the past, the AU usually described this as a ‘decolonisation’ issue and accepted the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as a member. This membership is still seen by Morocco as proof that the organisation is not impartial.

    Morocco has often objected to the way the PSC – at the level of ambassadors in Addis Ababa – continues to call for the territory’s independence.

    The AU’s decision in July 2018 to fully support the UN process in order to resolve tensions between member states could therefore be seen as a victory for Morocco. The assembly appealed to the parties in the conflict ‘to urgently resume negotiations without pre-conditions and in good faith under the auspices of the Secretary-General of the UN, whose Security Council is seized of the matter’.

    This decision is also in line with the outcome of the UN meeting in April 2018 that urged member states to support the UN peace process, which involves negotiations between the parties.

    Some view the 31st summit decision on Western Sahara as a compromise to prevent the deterioration of the relationship between Morocco’s allies and staunch supporters of Western Sahara such as Algeria, South Africa and other countries in Southern Africa. Keeping the discussions out of the PSC could be a way to avoid confrontation.

    However, the decision has serious implications for the PSC, owing to the precedent it sets for other member states.

    Reversal of prior AU decisions

    The latest decision to provide decisive support to the UN process is a reversal of the AU’s January 2018 decision, which called for ‘joint AU and UN facilitated talks for a free and fair referendum for the people of Western Sahara’.

    The new decision also states that the AU will engage the issue mainly at the level of the newly established troika, which is made up of the outgoing, current and incoming AU chairpersons and the AUC chairperson. The troika will provide support to the UN process and report directly to the AU Assembly and, if need be, the PSC, but only at the level of heads of state.

    The decision nullifies the ad hoc committee of heads of state on Western Sahara that was established in 1978, during the early years of the violent confrontations. The Nouakchott decision also makes no mention of the AU high representative for Western Sahara, currently the former president of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano.

    Precedent for other member states

    This latest Western Sahara decision is crucial for the AU and the PSC because, for the first time, the AU has taken a formal decision to limit the PSC’s involvement in a crisis in Africa. Since the re-launch of the continental body as the AU in 2002 and the operationalisation of the PSC in 2004, the PSC has seen itself as a major player in every security issue on the continent.

    In line with the PSC Protocol, conflict situations on the continent are discussed by the 15-member PSC at all levels. Most of the time it is at the level of the Addis Ababa-based permanent representatives, who meet regularly on security issues irrespective of whether the peace processes are led by other intergovernmental organisations.

    For instance, the PSC has engaged on several issues, including the situations in Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, where the UN and sub-regional actors play dominant roles. While the AU may play a minimal role in a peace process, the PSC’s discussions complement mainstream processes, thereby enabling the AU to fulfil its day-to-day conflict management role.

    While the PSC has shied away from discussing certain emerging security threats such as Cameroon and Zimbabwe owing to political pressure from member states, no formal decision was ever made in this regard. As a result, nothing prevents the PSC from putting it on the agenda of its deliberations at ambassadorial level in future.

    Impact on the PSC working methods

    The assembly’s decision to limit the PSC’s role in Western Sahara to heads of state could negatively impact the council’s working methods. PSC summits at the level of heads of state take place only once or twice a year and are usually scheduled to discuss a burning crisis situation. The past few summits since 2016 have been devoted to the situation in South Sudan.

    This means that the Western Sahara issue may not make it to the PSC summits and, even if it does, there may not be binding decisions, given that the AU is meant to support the UN process.

    The implications for other issues are evident. In future, member states that disagree with the PSC’s involvement could insist on a UN process with the support of heads of state. This not only affects the working methods of the PSC but could also undermine its relevance in addressing certain security threats on the continent.

    Limits of the AU troika

    Experience also shows that committees of heads of state often lack the political will to deal with crises. Besides, the troika of former, current and future AU chairs is a notion that is not inscribed in the AU Constitutive Act and it has no real powers outside the AU Assembly. Similar high-level committees were set up in the past to address conflicts in Libya, Burundi and South Sudan, but failed to record any major milestones in either setting the agenda for peace or effectively resolving the crises in those countries.

    Going forward, the AUC chairperson has a responsibility to include the issue of Western Sahara on the agenda of the AU Assembly and PSC summits of heads of state. This includes developing a roadmap for the AU troika to meet regularly to urge the UN to accelerate efforts to resolve one of Africa’s long-running crises.

    Source

    #Western_Sahara #Morocco #African_Union #AUC #PSC #SADR #Algeria

  • Corruption: Leaking of confidential AU documents

    Tags : Western Sahara, African Union, African Commission, Moroccogate, Qatargate, Maroc, DGED, bribery, Jean-Baotiste Natana, Morocco,

    On the occasion of the widespread media coverage of the scandal known as Marocgate, which shook the European Parliament, it should be recalled that these corrupt practices have been widely practiced by Morocco in Africa and the African Union.

    Indeed, presidents, ministers, ambassadors and civil society figures have received money and gifts in order to obtain their support for Moroccan aims in Africa, in particular to prevent the African Union from intervening in the UN-led peace process in Western Sahara. For Rabat, this intervention was an initiative of the African Commission under the chairmanship of Ms. Dlamini Zuma.

    Thus, Morocco succeeded in recruiting Ms. Zuma’s chief of staff, Jean-Baptiste, a dirty cop from Burkina Faso, a country that is part of the French-led nebula known as Françafrique, of which the Kingdom of Morocco is the main stronghold.

    Thanks to its recruit, Rabat obtained confidential documents from the African Commission, including a letter sent by Ambassador Yilma Tadesse, the African Union’s representative to MINURSO, to Ms. Dlamini Zuma, regarding the publication of a Moroccan media on the former president of Mozambique, Joachim Chissano.

    Indeed, the website Duid.ma published on July 1, 2014 an article entitled « AU. A drug trafficker appointed as special envoy for Sahara-REabat totally rejects the decision of the African Union » which caused the indignation of Ambassador Yilma Tadesse, representative of the African Union to MINURSO, the UN mission operating in Western Sahara. « Writing a news story on the development is, of course, one thing but engaging in a scurrilous defamation, simply quite another. It is indeed regrettable that the paper had to stoop so low in launching such an attack on the person of one of the African freedom fighters and dedicated leaders or oru continent, » he wrote in this regard.

    #Qatargate #Maroc #Parlement_Européen #Eva_Kaili #Antonio_Panzeri #Francesco_Giorgi #Qatar #Marocleaks #Mohamed_Belahrach #Moroccogate #DGED #Yassine_Mansouri #Western_Sahara #African_Union


  • Morocco’s New Tango with the African Union

    Tags : Morocco, Western Sahara, African Union, bribes, corruption,

    Ahead of the African Union Summit which takes place from 22-31 January 2017 in Addis Ababa, Yohannes Woldemariam analyses Morocco’s campaign for readmission to the continental body.

    Why is King Mohammed VI of Morocco suddenly keen to join the African Union (AU), after his late father King Hassan II abandoned the continental Organization of African Unity the (OAU), in 1984?

    Morocco is currently courting a number of African countries relentlessly, including Madagascar, Tanzania, Rwanda, and others. Morocco has signed 19 economic agreements with Rwanda and 22 with Tanzania—two countries that traditionally backed the Western Sahara’s quest for decolonisation. Nigeria and Morocco have also signed a total of 21 bilateral agreements, a joint venture to construct a gas pipeline that will connect the two nations as well as some other African countries to Europe.

    Clearly, the economic agreements with these countries imply ulterior motives for increasing Morocco’s leverage in its campaign to return to the AU and deal a blow to Western Sahara’s aspirations for self-determination. Morocco is waging a similar campaign internationally and in the halls of the US congress by hiring expensive lobbyists and public relations firms.

    For Morocco, joining the AU is part of the tactic of trying to use the organisation for its objective of neutralising Western Sahara, from the inside, which has become a terribly divisive wedge issue within the AU.

    Outside Africa, Morocco has powerful support for its position from influential Gulf States such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, which are not members of the AU, but which can still use their political influence and the power of the purse to coerce and lobby cash-strapped African countries and the United Nations. In a clear show of muscle, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and UAE walked out from a meeting of the Arab and African foreign ministers meeting, which was held in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, in preparation for the fourth Arab-African summit, because of opposition to the presence of a delegation from the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Among African countries, Senegal strongly backs Morocco’s position, undoubtedly due to great pressure from France and Moroccan economic investments in Senegal. Morocco is also the largest investor in Ivory Coast and therefore can count on strong Ivorian support. Morocco has stronger support in Francophone Africa.

    Kenya, which once supported SADR reversed course in 2007 but now Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed, candidate to head the African Union Commission, is calling for holding, as quickly as possible, “the referendum on Western Sahara people’s self-determination.” Zambia has similarly vacillated after early support for the cause of Western Sahara. According to WikiLeaks, at least until 2009 Ethiopia’s position was to recognise the SADR, declared by the Polisario (Western Sahara’s guerrilla army) in 1976 as its representative body. It still remains to be seen, how countries will line up when it really matters.

    The case of Western Sahara bears striking resemblance to Eritrea’s struggle for independence from Ethiopia and the independence struggles of Namibia, Belize and East Timor. According to the Wikileaks report, both Belize and East Timor are listed among countries who recognise SADR.

    Africa committed itself to maintain colonial borders, drawn arbitrarily in the 19th and 20th centuries, after the collapse of European colonialism. This commitment was not made because those borders made any sense: borders were rarely congruent with ethnic geographical homelands or previous historical delineations. One can debate the pros and cons of this but Africa made the decision in Cairo in 1964, to keep these borders in order to avoid disruptive and endless conflict of trying to rearrange colonial boundaries, to fit language groups or ethnicities. For better or worse, that is what was decided with the Cairo resolution (AHG/Res. 16(I)). Nevertheless, Morocco is choosing to violate that resolution by gobbling up Western Sahara.

    But why does Morocco need the AU, the much troubled continental body? The explanation lies in Morocco’s illegal Occupation of the Western Sahara and its need to legitimise it by enlisting as many African countries as possible, to accept Western Sahara’s fate as fait accompli. Morocco has been colonising the territory since 1974. Recently, UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon characterised Morocco as an occupying force, which obviously did not sit well with Morocco.

    An impasse of a no-war, no-peace status exists since 1991, after a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations. Morocco has proposed “internal autonomy” but the Saharawis insist on a United Nations supervised referendum vote, with independence on the table. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) after consideration of materials and information provided by both sides concluded there is no evidence:




    establish[ING] any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity… the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the application of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonization of Western Sahara and, in particular, of the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory.




    In a rare show of some backbone, the OAU welcomed Western Sahara’s membership, which incensed Morocco and caused its withdrawal from the organisation in 1984—making it the only country to do so in its history. This was a strategic mistake by Morocco, which it seems to have finally realised.

    Illegal Mining of Western Sahara’s Potash Resource

    Morocco is exploiting and using Western Sahara’s potash resource to bribe and lobby countries like Ethiopia, casting doubt on the sincerity of its offer for “internal autonomy” to the territory.

    According to the financialpost.com:



    Two Canadian fertilizer firms have become the dominant buyers of phosphate rock from the disputed territory of Western Sahara after other companies stopped the practice… Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) found that Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Agrium Inc. shipped a combined 916,000 tonnes of phosphate from the territory last year. That accounted for 64.5 per cent of all purchases from Western Sahara in 2015. Potash Corp. shipped 474,000 tonnes and Agrium shipped 442,000…


    The Financial Times reported that the OCP (Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company) sealed a deal to build $3.7bn fertiliser plant in Ethiopia. This is hailed as the largest investment of Morocco outside the country and as an example of South–South cooperation. The clue for this motive is to be found in “Ethiopia’s support for Morocco’s return to the African institutional family …articulated in a joint statement issued following King Mohammed VI’s … visit to Ethiopia, the first since his accession to the Throne.”

    Moroccan robbery of Western Sahara’s resources is widespread. Hillary Clinton was complicit with relaxing US foreign aid restrictions on Morocco during her tenure as Secretary of State, allowing US funds to be used in the territory of Western Sahara where OCP operates phosphate-mining operations. Collaterally, Hillary’s favour to Morocco resulted in US$12-million for the Clinton-Foundation, courtesy of King Mohammed VI.

    Morocco’s commitment to South- South Cooperation is questionable at best. Morocco is framing its charm offensive in Africa in terms of South– South cooperation. But what really is Morocco’s commitment to South-South cooperation? Like Ethiopia, Morocco’s commitment, first of all, is commitment to an extreme form of neoliberalism and to an environmental narrative that blames pastoralists and their overgrazing practices as an excuse for invading and appropriating land for commercial agriculture and other land grabs. In Morocco, stat e services such as health care and education have faced drastic reduction. The promotion of exports and the lowering of tariffs is the reality. For the majority of their populations, rampant degradation and poverty are the reality in both countries.

    A central tenet of South-South cooperation is poverty reduction, but neoliberalist market fundamentalism is incompatible with reducing inequality and protecting the environment. The beneficiaries from these policies are the elite and international capitalists; the results are a far cry from South-to-South cooperation that would alleviate poverty. Even the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was used by Morocco to insert itself in the 16 November 2016 meeting of the Africa Action Summit in Marrakesh. King Mohammed VI was the new face in the meeting, clearly pushing his campaign to get rid of SADR from the AU.

    The struggle to deal seriously with climate change should not be circumvented by the unjust political agendas of opportunistic leaders. As Hamza Hamouchene of War on Want, articulates: there cannot be authentic environmental justice in Morocco when its government ignores the political rights of the Saharawi people.

    Similarly, In 2009, in his capacity as a designated negotiator, the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi betrayed the G77’s and Africa’s collective stance in Copenhagen by making a back-door deal with France retreating from the agreed upon 1.5 degrees Celsius target to 2 degrees and thereby dealing a serious blow to the bargaining capacity of the global South. As Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones magazine wrote:



    The major powers welcomed Ethiopia’s defection from the 1.5-degree target. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown…endorsed the side deal with France….Obama placed a call to Zenawi [in which he] expressed his appreciation for the leadership [of] the Prime Minister… [In negotiating] with African countries on climate change.




    The truth was that Meles used Copenhagen to further his own immediate agenda at the expense of Africa and King Mohammed VI was using COP22 to support Morocco’s agenda of denying the rights of the Saharawi people. Ethiopia is now seen as key for Morocco’s goals, as a founding member of the OAU hosting the headquarters of the AU’s Chinese-funded 200-million-dollar building in Addis Ababa, showcasing Chinese soft power. The world must not forget that Ethiopia still sits on its own violation by occupying parts of Eritrean territory in contravention of an ICJ verdict.

    Moroccan and Ethiopian version of South-to-South cooperation is simply a repackaged version of neoliberalism based on extractive activities and destroying the lives of the most vulnerable.

    The honorable thing for African Countries and the AU to do, as they recently have done in standing up to Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia, is to rebuff Morocco’s arm twisting and vigorously support the self-determination of the Saharawi people.


    Dr. Yohannes Woldemariam is a Visiting Professor of International Political Economy at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica.

    LSE, 20/01/2017

    #Morocco #Western_Sahara #Bribes #African_Union #Bribes #Corruption

  • Behind Morocco’s New Tango With the African Union

    Behind Morocco’s New Tango With the African Union

    Morocco, African Union, Western Sahara, bribery,

    By Yohannes Woldemariam

    Why is King Mohammed VI of Morocco suddenly keen to join the African Union (AU) after his late father King Hassan II condescendingly ditched the continental Organization of African Unity the (OAU) in 1984?

    Morocco is currently courting a number of African countries relentlessly, including Madagascar, Tanzania, Rwanda, and others. Morocco has signed 19 economic agreements with Rwanda and 22 with Tanzania—two countries that traditionally backed the Western Sahara’s quest for decolonization. Nigeria Morocco have signed a total of 21 bilateral agreements, a joint venture to construct a gas pipeline that will connect the two nations as well as some other African countries to Europe. It is easily transparent that the economic agreements with these countries imply ulterior motives for increasing Morocco’s leverage in its campaign to return to the AU and deal a blow to Western Sahara’s aspirations for self-determination. Morocco is waging a similar campaign internationally and in the halls of the U.S. congress by hiring expensive lobbyists and sleazy public relations firms.

    In this endeavor, it appears Morocco is making significant progress in isolating the Western Sahara. For Morocco, joining the AU is part of the tactic of trying to use the organization for its objective of neutralizing Western Sahara from inside the AU. Already, it has the backing of 28 African countries. However, it needs two thirds (36) of the votes from the 54 member countries of the AU to get Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) expelled. To return to the organization, it only needs a simple majority while overcoming resistance from powerful countries like South Africa and Algeria along with Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea. South Africa and Algeria have been reliable allies for SADR.

    This move by Morocco has become a terribly divisive wedge issue within the AU. Outside Africa, Morocco has powerful support for its position from influential Gulf States such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, which are not members of the AU, but which can still use their political influence and the power of the purse to coerce and lobby cash-strapped African countries and the United Nations. In a clear show of muscle, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and UAE walked out from a meeting of the Arab and African foreign ministers meeting, which was held in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, in preparation for the fourth Arab-African summit, because of opposition to the presence of a delegation from SADR. Notable here are Saudi Arabian and UAE’s forceful expressions of solidarity with Morocco. Among African countries, Senegal strongly backs Morocco’s position, undoubtedly due to great pressure from France and Moroccan economic investors in Senegal. Morocco is also the largest investor in Ivory Coast and therefore can count on strong Ivorian support. Morocco has stronger support in Francophone Africa.

    Kenya, which once supported SADR, reversed course in 2007 but now Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed, candidate to head the African Union Commission, is calling for holding, as quickly as possible, “the referendum on Western Sahara people’s self-determination.” Zambia has similarly vacillated after early support for the cause of Western Sahara. According to WikiLeaks, at least until 2009 Ethiopia’s position was to recognize the SADR, declared by the Polisario (Western Sahara’s guerrilla army) in 1976 as its representative body. It still remains to be seen, how countries will vote when it really matters.

    Ironically, according to the WikiLeaks report, Eritrea’s position is unknown but is not listed among the countries that recognized SADR, although the history of the territory bears striking resemblance to its own struggle for independence from Ethiopia and the independence struggles of Belize and East Timor. Both Belize and East Timor recognize SADR. Africa committed itself to maintain colonial borders, drawn arbitrarily in the 19th and 20th centuries, after the collapse of European colonialism. This commitment was not made because those borders made any sense: borders were rarely congruent with ethnic geographical homelands or previous historical delineations. One can debate the pros and cons of this but Africa made the decision in Cairo in 1964, to keep these borders in order to avoid disruptive and endless conflict of trying to rearrange colonial boundaries, to fit language groups or ethnicities. For better or worse, that is what was decided with the Cairo resolution (AHG/Res. 16(I)). Nevertheless, Morocco is choosing to mess with that resolution by gobbling up Western Sahara.

    But why does Morocco need the AU? And why does it need to bribe the African countries in order to return to the continental body as dysfunctional and weak as it is? The explanation for this dubious posturing lies in Morocco’s illegal Occupation of Western Sahara and its need to legitimize it by enlisting as many African countries as possible, to accept Western Sahara’s fate as fait accompli. Morocco has been occupying or colonizing (take your pick) the territory since 1974. Recently, U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki Moon characterized Morocco as an occupying force in Western Sahara, which obviously did not sit well with Morocco.

    Background

    The Western Sahara consists of the former Spanish colonies of Rio de Oro (River of Gold) and Saqiet al-Hamra (Red Creek) along the Atlantic coast, until the Spanish dictator Franco decided to leave the territories in 1974. The territories natural resources include phosphates, offshore fishing and potential oil. Morocco’s occupation has been aided by Spain and France (former colonizers) acting through the United Nations. Mauritania was also an early protagonist in occupying a part of Western Sahara but abandoned its claim after being soundly defeated by the Polisario, which precipitated the collapse of the Mauritanian government. Between Western Sahara and Morocco, there has been an impasse and a no-war, no-peace status quo since 1991, after a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations. Morocco has proposed “internal autonomy” for Western Sahara, but the Saharawis insist on a United Nations supervised referendum vote, with independence on the table. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) after consideration of materials and information provided by both sides concluded there is no evidence:

    establish[ING] any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity… the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the application of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonization of Western Sahara and, in particular, of the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory.


    In a rare show of some backbone, the OAU welcomed Western Sahara’s membership, which incensed Morocco and caused its withdrawal from the organization in 1984—making it the only country to do so in the history of the organization. This was a strategic mistake by Morocco, which it seems to have finally realized. It is notable that the only country vocally supporting the Moroccan position at the time was the kleptocracy of Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire. Upon his overthrow, Mobutu was granted asylum in Togo but died in Morocco in 1997, where he was receiving medical treatment.

    Tit for Tat with Egypt

    In a setback for Morocco, relations with Egypt have been strained visibly since the end of October due to President Abdelfattah El Sissi permitting a delegation from the Polisario Front to enter Sharm El-Sheikh in an official capacity. The delegation reportedly met with presidents of Arab and African parliaments and with members of the Egyptian legislature during its stay. The visit by the King of Morocco to Addis Ababa is likely in retaliation by Rabat to exploit Cairo’s ongoing dispute with Addis Ababa over the sharing of Nile waters and specifically over the issues surrounding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ethiopia has been accusing Egypt of helping and stroking the ongoing ethnic rebellions in Ethiopia.

    Illegal Mining of Western Sahara’s Potash Resource

    Morocco is exploiting and using Western Sahara’s potash resource to bribe and lobby countries like Ethiopia, casting doubt on the sincerity of its offer for “internal autonomy” to the territory.

    According to the financialpost.com:

    Two Canadian fertilizer firms have become the dominant buyers of phosphate rock from the disputed territory of Western Sahara after other companies stopped the practice… Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) found that Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Agrium Inc. shipped a combined 916,000 tonnes of phosphate from the territory last year. That accounted for 64.5 per cent of all purchases from Western Sahara in 2015. Potash Corp. shipped 474,000 tonnes and Agrium shipped 442,000…
    Unholy Overtures



    At a time when the Ethiopian government is gripped by nationwide protests and foreign businesses are fleeing the country, there have been headlines that “Morocco signed an agreement…to invest over two billion dollars in Ethiopia over a five year period to build a fertilizer factory.” The Financial Times reported that the OCP (Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company) sealed a deal to build $3.7bn fertilizer plant in Ethiopia. This is hailed as the largest investment of Morocco outside the country and as an example of South-South cooperation. The dubious clue for this motive is to be found in “Ethiopia’s support for Morocco’s return to the African institutional family …articulated in a joint statement issued following King Mohammed VI’s … visit to Ethiopia, the first since his accession to the Throne.”

    Here, it needs to be asked: where is this resource feeding the fertilizer company coming from? And why is Ethiopia chosen for such an investment? Is this deal another case of partnership-in-crime?

    Moroccan robbery of Western Sahara’s resources is widespread. Hillary Clinton was complicit with relaxing U.S. foreign aid restrictions on Morocco during her tenure as Secretary of State, allowing U.S. funds to be used in the territory of Western Sahara where OCP operates phosphate-mining operations. Collaterally, Hillary’s favor to Morocco resulted in 12-million for the Clinton-Foundation, courtesy of King Mohammed VI.

    Morocco’s Questionable Commitment to South- South Cooperation

    Ethiopia is seen as key for Morocco’s goals, as a founding member of the OAU hosting the headquarters of the AU’s Chinese-funded 200-million-dollar building in Addis Ababa, showcasing Chinese soft power. Morocco is framing its charm offensive in Africa in terms of South- South cooperation. But what really is Morocco’s commitment to South-South cooperation? Like Ethiopia, Morocco’s commitment, first of all, is commitment to an extreme form of neoliberalism and to an environmental narrative that blames pastoralists and their overgrazing practices as an excuse for invading and appropriating land for commercial agriculture and other land grabs. In Morocco, state services such as health care and education have faced drastic reduction. The promotion of exports and the lowering of tariffs is the reality. For the majority of their populations, rampant degradation and poverty are the reality in both countries.

    A central tenet of South-South cooperation is poverty reduction, but neoliberalist market fundamentalism is incompatible with reducing inequality and protecting the environment. The beneficiaries from these policies are the elite and international capitalists; the results are a far cry from South-to-South cooperation that would alleviate poverty. Even the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was used by Morocco to insert itself in the 16 November 2016 meeting of the Africa Action Summit in Marrakesh. King Mohammed VI was the new face in the meeting, clearly pushing his campaign to get rid of SADR from the AU.

    The struggle to deal seriously with climate change should not be circumvented by the unjust political agendas of opportunistic leaders. As Hamza Hamouchene of War on Want, articulates: there cannot be authentic environmental justice in Morocco when its government ignores the political rights of the Saharawi people.

    In 2009, in his capacity as a designated negotiator, the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi betrayed the G77’s and Africa’s collective stance in Copenhagen by making a back-door deal with France retreating from the agreed upon 1.5 degrees Celsius target to 2 degrees and thereby dealing a serious blow to the bargaining capacity of the global South. As Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones magazine wrote:

    The major powers welcomed Ethiopia’s defection from the 1.5-degree target. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown…endorsed the side deal with France….Obama placed a call to Zenawi [in which he] expressed his appreciation for the leadership [of] the Prime Minister… [In negotiating] with African countries on climate change.


    The truth was that Meles used Copenhagen to further his own immediate agenda at the expense of Africa in much the same way that King Mohammed VI used COP22 to support Morocco’s agenda of denying the rights of the Saharawi people.

    Moroccan and Ethiopian versions of South-to-South cooperation is simply a repackaged version of neoliberalism based on extractive activities and destroying the lives of the most vulnerable. It is not a coincidence that both Ethiopia and Morocco are facing internal resistance from their populations, which they are trying to suppress with extreme violence.

    The brutal death of the fish seller Mouhcine Fikri in the northern Moroccan town of Al Hoceima while trying to rescue his swordfish is being compared with the Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010, whose death sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. Neoliberal privatization is preventing and displacing folks who have been selling or consuming fish for as long as they have been living in the coastal towns of Morocco. In Ethiopia, it is land grab and extreme repression that is having similar effect on communities in Gambella, Benishangul, and the Amhara region, Sidama, Konso, Ogaden and Oromia.

    January 31, 2017, in Addis Ababa is the next AU summit, where Morocco is hoping to achieve its sinister goal against SADR. The honorable thing for the AU to do is to rebuff Morocco’s arm twisting and vigorously support the self-determination of the Saharawi people.

    Huffpost, 03 déc 2016

    #Morocco #African_Union #Western_Sahara #Bribery #Corruption



  • Morocco: colossal bribes to African diplomats before joining AU

    Morocco: colossal bribes to African diplomats before joining AU

    Morocco, African Union, lobbying, bribes, corruption, Western Sahara, Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic,

    Despite its flagrant trampling on the objectives of the constitutive act of the African Union that stipulates to “Defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States”, the “Respect of borders existing on achievement of independence” and the “Prohibition of the use of force or threat to use force among Member States of the Union” Morocco, that by means of military force still occupies a large portion of the AU member founder Western Sahara republic, smoothly joined the African Union.  
    Despite, also, declaring Joachim Chissano, the African Union’s special envoy to Western Sahara, a persona non grata in the Saharawi occupied territories and even in Morocco, the Moroccan king was hosted inside the premises of the African Union as an African liberator. An admission that, weirdly, took place with a relaxing majority. 

    Why, then, the African Union admitted the membership of a country that not only tramples on this institution’s core constitutive act but also despises its role in the Saharawi cause, knowing that the peace plan set to resolve this protracted decolonization issue is under the auspices of the United Nations together with the African Union?

    Some high officials from inside the African Union waxed lyrical on Morocco’s membership on the grounds that it might be a good opportunity to convince the Moroccans to abide by the Western Sahara peace plan of which the African Union is the second pillar partner. 

    In a similar vein, some political pundits that often show up on various media outlets agree on this view based on the allegation that Morocco’s membership is a tacit recognition of the Saharawi republic as the Moroccan parliament ratified the AU constitutive act in which the Saharawi republic is a state member. 

    On the other hand, some other analysts have an opposite stance considering that such move will even engender the destruction of this Pan-African institution as Morocco’s status goes against the very fundamental charter of the African Union
    Nevertheless, amid all these conflicting views and speculations, a silent voice, through a twitter account baptized “Chris Coleman” and who in recent time brought global attention to a cache of authentic secret documents of the Moroccan diplomacy, has indeed the refutable evidence; Morocco succeeded in garnering support to its admission to the African Union thanks to a long course of colossal corrupt acts. 

    As the content of the joined documents clearly witness, we can see mails of a Moroccan diplomat who seemed to have succeeded in setting up a network of relations behind the scenes at every summit of the African Union. Through these mails that were subsequently sent to his boss in Rabat, we learn that, at least on one occasion, cash money was handed over to some African delegations to swing the pendulum in favor of Morocco or, even worse, spy and leak secret information and internal files of the African Union to Morocco officials.

    Morocco’s joining the African Union was the result of a lobbying policy in which an all pervasive corruption campaign has been its cornerstone.  

    As shown in the mails, it is Moha Tagma, Director of the African Affaires at Morocco Foreign Department, briefing his superior the Moroccan minister of foreign affaires on his action plan. 
    In a note he sent to his minister on May 05th, 2014, he put forward “proposals for the undertaken preparations to the next African Union Summit” that would be held in Addis Ababa. He suggests giving “individual envelopes of 5000 euros for each friend” and he lists those “friends” who represent the delegations of the following countries: Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Comoros, Djibouti, Niger Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Chad, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Mali, Eritrea and Mauritania (Chair of the Council of the AU) “.

      
       
    In another note dated on June 4th, 2014, Moh Tagma proposed to give Jean-Baptiste Natama from Burkina Faso, $ 2,500 “as an incentive to get him continue working with us.” Jean-Baptiste Natama was the Chief of Staff to the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, from October 2012 to February 2015. He was tasked of filtering out confidential documents from the African Commission to the Moroccan diplomat Moha Oualki Tagma, who currently serves as Morocco’s ambassador to Nigeria.
    On July 29th, 2016, Morocco’s state-based “NGO” New Vision of Africa (NOV AFRIQUE) awarded Jean-Baptiste Natama the “PADEL 2016 international prize for the best promoter of diplomacy in Africa”.

       


     Nevertheless, in spite of all these shenanigans, Morocco was unable to change the unwavering support of the majority of the Africans to the just cause of the Saharawi people. The role of the African Union, instead, intensified and its personal envoy, Mr. Chissano’s intervention before the UN Security Council in 2016 has accentuated Morocco’s isolation in front of a unified Africa on the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence. 

    Morocco, thus, has bought a seat at the African Union by its usual lethal and despicable weapon of corruption. The supposed economic development for the welfare of the African nation is no more than a smokescreen to the Moroccan main agenda; obstructing the mounting role of the African Union in decolonizing occupied Western Sahara besides coveting and taking hold of the Saharawi people’s land. 

    Khalil Asmar 

    #Morocco #WesternSahara #AfricanUnion #AU #Bribes #corruption