https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/32951005/morocco-king-seeks-support-for-au-bid-in-east-africa/#page1
Morocco king seeks support for AU bid in east Africa
AFP on October 20, 2016, 12:52 am
Kigali (AFP) - Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Wednesday began a tour of
east Africa to shore up support for a historic bid to rejoin the
African Union after more than three decades.
The visit, kicking off in Rwanda and set to take in Tanzania and
Ethiopia, also aims to forge diplomatic and economic ties with a
region largely ignored by the north African country up until now.
"We have never had any presence, neither diplomatic nor economic, nor
cultural, nor historic, with east Africa," a high-ranking member of
the king's delegation told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Aside from west and central Africa we must open up to east Africa and
that is what is under way. The context of Morocco's return to the
African Union is there too of course, and these are important
countries in the AU."
In Rwanda, Mohammed met with President Paul Kagame and signed 19
bilateral agreements, mostly in the economic sector. It was not clear
exactly when he would leave for Tanzania.
Rabat officially requested to rejoin the AU in September, 32 years
after quitting the bloc in protest at its decision to accept Western
Sahara as a member.
Morocco has occupied the sparsely populated Western Sahara area since
1975 in a move that was not recognised by the international community.
It maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom
even though local Sahrawi people have long campaigned for the right to
self-determination.
In 1991, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Moroccan
troops and Sahrawi rebels of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front but a
promised referendum to settle the status of the desert territory is
yet to materialise.
The tour of east Africa "is also a way to get closer to countries
which historically had positions which were hostile to Morocco's
interests", said the Moroccan source, adding that the region had been
considered an ally of Algeria.
The Moroccan monarch in July said his nation's decision to return to
the AU did not mean it was changing its stance on Western Sahara.
Rabat's membership bid must be approved by a vote of the AU Commission
in order to be accepted.
Received on Wed Oct 19 2016 - 14:36:00 EDT