Senegalese president: African Union unconceivable without Morocco

Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, said it is unconceivable that Morocco be absent from the African Union, insisting he cannot imagine how the new African organization, that will substitute the Organization of African Unity, can do without Morocco, a leading country in the continent.

The head of the Senegalese state who took part in the OAU last summit which wound up on Wednesday in Lusaka said this is a political issue that cannot be tackled within the Union bodies, explaining that the issue should not be addressed from a perspective of return or membership, adding it is only logical that Morocco be present in the concert of African nations that are readying to form the African Union.

Morocco withdrew from the now-defunct OAU in November 1984 to protest the illegal admission of the self-proclaimed SADR which claims the independence of its southern provinces retrieved by Morocco under a tripartite agreement with Spain, the former colonial power.