TICAD: Makhzen's agenda takes increasingly hostile turn towards AU

GENEVA-The Polisario Front's Representative in Switzerland and at the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva, Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, said that the Moroccan diplomat's attack on the Sahrawi delegation attending the preparatory meetings for the ministerial meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), was proof that Morocco's agenda was taking an increasingly hostile turn towards the African Union (AU) and its objectives of continental unity.

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Oubi Bouchraya described the Moroccan diplomat's violent attack on the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) delegation attending TICAD as an “irresponsible act”, which speaks volumes about the Makhzen's failure to push through its plans within the continental organization.

“Morocco's agenda within the AU is not only contrary to the AU but increasingly hostile to its goals of unity and development of Africa, under its founding values and principles,” said the Sahrawi diplomat, who stressed that “this situation can no longer continue.”

In this regard, he pointed out that Morocco, after 32 years of attempts to influence the position of the SADR within the AU, had reintegrated the latter in January 2017 by betting, within the Organization, on the exclusion of the SADR from the AU, although it is a founding member.

In order to achieve this goal, “Morocco had agreed to sit side by side and on an equal footing with the SADR and even recognize it in its official gazette in the issue published on January 31, 2017,” he said.[/ecr]