Senegal says debate on exclusion of Polisario entity from African fold will resume
Morocco-Senegal, Politics, 8/11/1999

Debate on the expulsion of the so-called Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR/self-proclaimed by the Polisario separatists) from the Organization of African Unity (OAU), will resume shortly, Senegalese Foreign Minister, Jacques Baudin, told the senegalese Parliament on Monday.

"The admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) into the Organization of African Unity is "legal heresy," Baudin said in an answer to a question of an opposition MP.

The head of the Senegalese diplomacy underlined that Morocco's decision to withdraw from the OAU after the admission, was justified considering that the so-called republic was not a sovereign state.

The SADR was admitted as member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) during the 1984 African summit of Nairobi. The decision prompted founder-member Morocco to quit the body.

No liberation movement has ever had this privilege, Baudin said. He disclosed that 39 other OAU member states are now convinced of the validity of the position defended by Morocco and Senegal and back this position.

Baudin stressed that Senegal, a friend of Morocco, is attached to defending its principles. "Senegal is determined to show strong solidarity with the Kingdom of Morocco to evidence that friendship is something sacred for us," he said.

The minister emphasized that the debate on the expulsion of the mirage entity is not closed and will resume during the upcoming meeting of the OAU ministers' council.

He recalled that the OAU summit, held last July, skipped over the issue and referred it to the ministers' council.

Baudin, who noted that the mirage entity is not a sovereign state in the eyes of the international law, said he does not understand why this "irregular and illegitimate privilege" was never granted to any liberation movement, even the African National Congress (ANC).

The African countries backing the Polisario entity that formed a majority once, are now a minority with the massive withdrawal of recognition to the mirage state, Baudin said.

Several African countries, including Burkina Faso, Benin, Congo, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chad, and Seychelles withdrew their recognition of the mirage SADR after they realized that the polisario thesis was fallacious.

The United Nations Plans to hold a referendum to determine whether the Sahara --a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords-- sets up on its own or remains part of Morocco.

Previous Stories:
  Admission of Polisario republic to pan-African body: a juridical heresy, Senegalese foreign minister   (4/30/1999)
  Moroccan-Senegalese joint commission to hold regular annual meeting   (4/27/1999)
  King Hassan II receives Senegalese president    (4/26/1999)

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