Sahrawi republic losing ground, Rwandan FM says

Rwandan minister of foreign affairs and regional cooperation, Ismail Amri Sued, asserted that the conditions wherein the "Sahrawi Republic" (SADR) had been admitted at the Organization of African Unity have changed and that if a vote was organized now, the republic would not glean the same votes as in the past.

"The situation has surely changed...If a vote was organized, the 'SADR' would not enjoy as much backing as in the past," the Rwandan official told MAP's correspondent in Addis Ababa where he attended the 69th session of the OAU ministerial council.

The African ministerial council, which met earlier this week in Ethiopia, debated the status of the self-proclaimed "Sahrawi republic" and the question of whether to expel it or not from the pan-African organization.

The council decided to submit to the OAU summit scheduled next July in Algiers a report on the debates and an advisory opinion of a legal advisor of the OAU, as well as a juridical explanation, at the request of Senegal.

Senegalese Foreign Minister Jacques Baudin had actually 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 Rwandan foreign minister who backed during the 69th OAU ministerial council that the "SADR" issue be referred to the African summit expressed hope that the African heads of state would find a solution to this problem.

He recalled that some countries have withdrawn recognition of the "SADR" and that even the backing of those who were at the beginning fanatically pro-SADR has weakened as the issue was referred to the United Nations and was therefore handled by the international community.

To a question on the timeliness of reexamining the "SADR" status, the Rwandan official said the problem can be posed, but it is necessary to avoid that "the OAU be trapped in a deadlock... and that the animosity we lived through fifteen years ago be revived."

He explained that as the OAU charter does not provide for the expuslion or suspension of a member, the issue may lead to a deadlock. So, in order to avoid this deadlock, it would be better to inform the heads of state about the sensitivity of the problem and the reservations expressed by the ministerial council about the matter.

What is important for Rwanda, he said, is not to back or not the "SADR," but to spare the OAU a deadlock.

The Rwandan foreign minister insisted that his country has "very good relations with Morocco" and that even if Rwanda had recognized the Sahrawis since 1989, it has always had a dynamic cooperation with Morocco. "Our relations are not tarnished by any animosity," he said.

The admission of the SADR within the OAU in 1984 sparked the walkout of founding member, Morocco, which maintained, however, sound and firm relations with African countries at the bilateral level.