South African paper says Morocco should be one of the AU and NEPAD leaders
Morocco-Regional, Politics, 7/9/2002

Morocco should be one of the leaders of the African Union and should have a front role in the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development), wrote Sunday a South African weekly regretting Morocco's absence at a time Africa is readying to proclaim the birth of the African Union in the African summit that opens Monday in Durban.

In a column, the Sunday tribune deplores that Morocco, a country with sustained economy and growth, is one of the two absent countries (with Madagascar) for the ceremony in which the African Union will be proclaimed in replacement of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Morocco withdrew from the OAU in November 1984 to protest the illegal admission of the so-called Sahara republic, self-proclaimed by the Polisario separatists which claim the independence of Morocco's southern provinces. To integrate the African Union, Morocco requests that the reasons that were behind its withdrawal from the OAU be avoided by the new entity.

The Sahara conflict is a negative sign for the NEPAD and a fundamental test for the credibility and success of the African Union, the weekly writes calling the South African government to endeavor for settling the issue.

The columnist further warns that the African Union and the NEPAD will be the losers if Morocco is absent, in view of the Kingdom's major strides in democratic reforms, economic liberalization, foreign investments flow, which are the very objectives set by NEPAD.

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