Most African countries no longer recognize Polisario entity, Burkina Faso president says

Most of the members of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) no longer recognize the SADR republic (self-proclaimed by the Polisario separatists), President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso said.

"The majority of OAU members no longer recognize the SADR, which would normally have allowed the Organization to exclude it even through the very way that the entity was admitted (to the OAU)," President Compaore told Moroccan Al-Bayane daily on the fringes of the OAU extraordinary summit, held Sep. 8-9 in Syrte, Libya.

Several countries have been pressing the Pan-African body to exclude the mirage entity that it illegally admitted within its fold in the early 1980's. This admission prompted founder Morocco to quit the Pan-African body.

During the 1998 OAU summit of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), and during the OAU ministerial meeting, held last March in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Senegal, Burkina Faso and several other nations requested the expulsion of the Sadr.

He further wondered how the OAU admitted as a member an entity that is still seeking international recognition to a referendum.

"The very particular circumstances in which the SADR was admitted to our organization have now changed," the Burkina Faso President said, before adding "the SADR, once backed by a majority, is now recognized only by a handful of states."

This should have allowed for the Polisario entity's expulsion through the very means whereby it was admitted, ie. by vote so that Morocco, that we really need at the OAU, resumes its seat, Compaore said.