Morocco premier to tour African countries

Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi announced Monday in Marrakesh that he will soon undertake a tour of a number of African countries.

In a speech read on his behalf by General Affairs Minister Ahmed Lahlimi before the Africa Business and Development Forum, which wound up on Tuesday in Marrakesh, the Moroccan prime minister expressed optimism that his African trip would yield positive results.

Although he did not name the countries he plans to visit, Youssoufi said his tour will consolidate cooperation relations between Morocco and the African countries, adding that Morocco maintains solid relations with most African countries, despite the "ungratefulness" against the Kingdom.

Youssoufi was hinting at the admission of the Polisario's self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as a member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) during the 1984 African summit of Nairobi. The decision prompted founder Morocco to quit the body.

The Polisario, backed by neighboring Algeria, claims sovereignty over Morocco's southern provinces.

Last week, Senegalese President Abdou Diouf announced that the head of the Moroccan government would undertake at the end of May a two-day visit to his country.

The prime minister, who called on African countries to overcome divisions and show more solidarity and unity, recalled that Morocco has always been at the heart of a vast intercontinental exchange system that linked Africa, the Arab-Muslim east and Andalucia.