Former African PMs, Ministers Call Presence of So-Called ‘sadr’ in AU ‘Legal Aberration’, ‘Political Nonsense’

Former prime ministers and former African ministers were unanimous, Monday in Rabat, to consider the presence of the so-called “sadr” in the African Union (AU) as “a legal aberration” and “a political nonsense. Received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, to give him the “White Paper”, these former African officials have not failed to denounce the presence of this puppet entity within the AU. Adopted unanimously by former prime ministers and former African ministers at the first follow-up meeting to the “Tangier Appeal” to expel the so-called “sadr” of the AU, held last Saturday in Marrakech, the “White Paper” admits that the presence within the AU of this ghostly entity, non-state emanation of an armed separatist group, illustrates the institutional vulnerability of the Organization and represents an undeniable obstacle to regional and continental economic integration. The preparation of the “White Paper” tends to support Moroccan diplomacy, which has been committed for years to convince the rest of Africa of the merits of the approach that consists in achieving the expulsion of the “rasd”, said to the press the former Comorian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fahmi Said Ibrahim El Macele. He added that this entity has never been recognized anywhere and that the AU should not be the only sub-regional organization to admit and accept this “aberration”. For his part, the former Cape Verdean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luís Filipe Lopes Tavares, noted that the problem of the Moroccan Sahara is an African problem and that “we can not admit within our organization an entity that is not recognized as a state by the United Nations. This is “a legal aberration, a historical anomaly and a political nonsense,” he denounced, highlighting the relevance of the “White Paper” as an instrument of advocacy and education. “We will make sure that this cause is heard by our heads of state and government to show them the rightness of the Moroccan cause,” said the former Cape Verdean minister, recalling that historically, the various tribes of the Sahara region have always pledged allegiance to the Sultans and Kings of Morocco. “The accession of the so-called sadr to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1982 was a serious political mistake and we are all convinced that reason, history and international law are on the Moroccan side,” he said. “The political will is there to ensure that at least 37 or 38 member states of the AU take their responsibility to vote for the exclusion of an entity that is not state,” concluded, in this sense, Mr. Lopes Tavares. For his part, the former Senegalese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mankeur Ndiaye, said that the meeting with Mr. Bourita aims to make it clear that the presence of the “rasd” in the AU is an anomaly, stressing that its admission was a “legal aberration” and “a political nonsense. The time has come to suspend the participation of the “sadr” in the AU because its admission was a serious violation of the OAU Charter,” said Ndiaye, explaining that the “sadr” is not a state and does not meet any criteria of a state since it does not have a permanent population, territory or political power and has no capacity to establish relations with other states.