Contreversial status of SADR to be decided next February
North Africa-West Sahara-Burkina Faso, Politics, 6/15/1998

The status of the so-called Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) will be decided next February at the ministerial conference of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister said.

"Instructions were given to the OAU Secretariat-General and to the foreign ministers that the issue be included in the agenda of their meeting next February in Addis Ababa and to take a decision if the self-determination process does not yield any result by that date," Ablasse Ouedraogo told Map at the end of the 34th OAU summit held this June 8-10 in Ouagadougou.

A heated last-minute debate on the status of the self-proclaimed SADR, whose admission sparked a walk-out by founding member Morocco in the early 80s, took place during the Ouagadougou Summit.

"If the SADR is no longer backed by the majority of African countries, as is the case now, the OAU Secretariat-General should notify the SADR that it can no longer claim to be an OAU member", the Burkina Faso Foreign Minister added.

Ouedraogo termed as "historic" and a "great victory" the decision of the OAU 34th summit to refer the SADR membership issue to the ministers council after long hours of debate.

"What is important is to reconsider a decision that is admitted as a collective error committed in a context marked by east-west strife," he said. The fact that the African heads of state took four hours to debate the issue shows that "something has changed in Africa," the foreign minister said.

He stated that an injustice was done, as article 4 of the OAU charter stipulates that to be a member, a state should be independent and sovereign. He added that both the countries that backed the SADR's expulsion and those who are for maintaining its membership agree that the SADR is not a state.

For Ouerdraogo, those who defended maintaining of the SADR's membership in the OAU "had no legal argument in accordance with articles 4 and 28 of the OAU charter". Their sole argument is that there was an admission decision that should be kept although it was a mistaken decision, he explained.

He said the SADR alleges to be Arab, while it does not belong to the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League or the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Previous Stories:
  Compaore: OAU can resort to vote to decide on SADR status   (6/12/1998)
  Morocco advances cause on Sahrawi-Sadr issue   (6/11/1998)
  Morocco Intends to return to African fold   (6/8/1998)

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