Gabonese FM deems referring self-proclaimed Sahrawi republic issue to African summit positive

Gabonese Foreign Minister, Jean Ping, has described as "positive" the African foreign ministers' decision to refer the "Sahrawi Republic" membership status to the coming summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The OAU's 69th ministerial council held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this March 22-23, decided to refer the issue of whether to expel the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Republic from the Pan-African organization to the next OAU summit to be hosted by Algeria in July.

The African foreign ministers who, in turn, were referred the issue by the 34th OAU summit held in Burkina Faso last June, agreed to submit to the coming OAU summit a report of their debates and an advisory opinion of a legal advisor of the OAU.

The Gabonese official and new chairman of the OAU ministerial council told MAP envoy to Addis Ababa that some delegations had attempted to damp the debate on the "Sadr" issue, but to no avail. "Thanks to the vigilance of other countries that were calling for the respect of the decisions of heads of state, the debate on the 'Sadr' issue did take place," he said.

For the Gabonese foreign minister, whose country is backing the expulsion of the "Sadr" from the pan-African organization where it was admitted in violation of the OAU charter, the champions of legality within the organization "should maintain the pressure, and continue the struggle, relentlessly, until the Sadr is expelled."

For Angolan foreign minister, Joao Bernardo de Miranda, discussions must go on until a final solution is reached. He recalled that his country firmly backs the referendum process in the Sahara and will respect the will of the populations of the region.

The ministerial council which discussed for more than three hours the conflicts raging on in the continent devoted most of the time to the question of whether to expel or not the so-called "Sahrawi republic" (SADR).

During the debate, the Senegalese foreign minister Jacques Baudin insisted that the OAU is contradicting itself by granting membership to the "Sadr" while adhering to the U.N settlement plan providing for the holding of a referendum in the Sahara.

Jacques Baudin equally requested that the conditions in which the SADR was admitted be reexamined, as this step violates Article IV of the organization's charter which limits membership to African independent and sovereign states.

The Senegalese foreign minister exacted that a juridical explanation be submitted to the heads of state along with the juridical advisor's opinion and the report on the debates. The juridical explanation would ask the following question: "is it possible that 'a state' which is involved in a referendum process be already considered as 'a state', according to the legal meaning of the term?"

The admission of the Sadr within the OAU in 1984 had sparked the walk-out of founder member, Morocco.