Rabat ready to return to African fold if OAU makes correction
Morocco-OAU, Politics, 7/17/1998

Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi renewed on Thursday Morocco's readiness to return to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) on the condition that the organization returns to the right path.

"Morocco is ready to return to its seat in the OAU. However this will be done only when the Pan-African body returns to the right path and avoids falling in contradiction with the international community," Youssoufi told reporters.

Youssoufi was speaking at a news conference at the end of the sixth session of the Moroccan - Tunisian high joint commission he co-chaired with his Tunisian peer, Hamed Karoui.

Morocco walked out of the African Organization in the early 1980's to protest the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, self-proclaimed by the Polisario, Map reported.

African leaders agreed during the latest OAU summit in Burkina Faso to resort to vote to decide on the status of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic "SADR," after it is examined by the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of African Unity next February in Addis Ababa.

"We have procedures in our organization, and when an issue is so important that it requires vote, it is discussed at the ministers council, before making a decision," President Compare had said at the end of the 34th OAU summit last June.

Youssoufi underlined that the Ouagadougou summit confirmed that the majority of OAU member states want to exclude the SADR.

If a vote is held on the issue, the phantom republic will be expelled, Youssoufi said, conceding that the vote was hampered by some countries who back the Polisario, Map reported.

The Polisario is backed by Algeria, which extends political, financial and logistic backing to the movement, which claims sovereignty over Morocco's southern provinces.

The Sahara issue is now under the responsibility of the United Nations, which try to settle the issue through a self-determination referendum to determine whether the former Spanish colony sets up on its own, as claimed by the Polisario, or be definitively incorporated into Morocco.

Touching on the U.N. settlement plan, the Moroccan Prime Minister said Rabat is closely following the unfolding of the plan.

"Morocco closely follows the U.N. plan providing for a referendum in the Sahara... and makes remarks to ensure the sound unfolding of the plan within the set deadlines," he said.

Initially set for next December 7, the referendum will most likely be postponed to the beginning of next year due to conflicts over the content of the voter lists.

Youssoufi stressed Morocco's attachment to the right of all Saharans to participate in the referendum.

According to a recent report submitted by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Security Council, the Minurso (U.N. mission for the referendum in the Sahara) has identified so far 135,667 would-be voters.

Previous Stories:
  Eritrean envoy in Morocco, background   (6/17/1998)
  Compaore: OAU can resort to vote to decide on SADR status   (6/12/1998)
  Moroccan-African cooperation increased, despite withdrawal from OAU   (6/8/1998)

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