Moroccan Sahara: African Union Must Support Autonomy Plan – Senegalese Movement –

The African Union (AU) must absolutely support the autonomy plan in the southern provinces of Morocco for a multitude of considerations, said president of the Movement for an Emergent Senegal (MOUSEM) Moubarack Lo. “The African Union must support the Moroccan autonomy plan in the Sahara (..) The Organization of African Unity, ancestor of the AU, was at the origin of the problem and now it is up to the African Union to help solve it,” he told MAP, on the sidelines of a sub-regional seminar organized, on Wednesday, by the Pan-African Strategy Institute (IPS), a Senegalese Think Tank, on the theme “Thinking about the Sahara Question and promoting innovative solutions”. “I do not understand how within the AU, where more than 70% of members do not recognize the fake sadr, we continue to accept the presence of this entity”, he added, considering that it is necessary to raise the real issues within the African Union. According to him, the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara causes enormous losses to the countries of the region. “Algeria is paying a heavy price with this conflict because the borders are closed and regional integration is blocked,” he said. “Morocco and Algeria, brotherly countries which share blood bonds and cultural and geographic ties, must be together. Within the AMU, if all the Maghreb countries work together, the economic dynamic will be boosted in the Maghreb, a region with very high potential, he noted.