Sahrawi republic's admission within OAU arbitrary, former OAU secretary general says

Former secretary general of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Ide Oumarou, asserted that the admission of the Sahrawi republic (SADR) within the pan-African organization was "arbitrary" and that African leaders can, with a little courage, find a "political solution" to the Sahara issue.

Ide Oumarou told MAP bureau in Dakar that the OAU found itself in a situation of fait accompli and that the day the SADR was admitted, the African delegates to the OAU found the republic's "flag" hoisted in the conference hall and its representatives participating in the meeting in an arbitrary way based on the majority rule.

Following the admission of the so-called "SADR," self-proclaimed by the Polisario, with the political backing of neighboring Algeria and the leverage of former OAU Secretary-General Edem Kodjo (Togo), Morocco withdrew from the OAU in 1984.

Oumarou, a national of Niger who replaced Edem Kodjo as OAU secretary general from 1985 to 1989, was visiting Dakar at the head of a delegation of observers on the occasion of the Senegalese presidential elections.

This admission was not a happy move. It was criticized by the international community and was behind an acute crisis within the OAU which split into two blocs, he said, recalling that following the decision, Morocco withdrew from the pan-African organization.

He added that after the OAU took a biased stand, the dossier was transferred to the United Nations which is trying to hold a referendum in the Sahara --a Moroccan southern territory that was formerly under Spanish rule and that was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

The vote, which will give the people of the Sahara a choice between independence or integration with Morocco, has been repeatedly delayed because of disputes over the voters list.

Oumarou deplored the successive delays that hamper the holding of the referendum and said as the OAU charter does not provide for the exclusion or suspension of a member state, it is necessary to handle this situation of fait accompli calmly and go to the referendum that (the late) King Hassan II had proposed with wisdom.