Morocco seeks to rejoin African Union

The government in Rabat has started official efforts for Morocco to rejoin the African Union unconditionally; the country left the 52-member state body 32 years ago. The news was revealed by Moroccan and Kenyan sources on Friday.

According to Moroccan newspaper Lakum and international news agencies, the announcement was made after a meeting between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Morocco’s special envoy Taieb Fassi Fihri in Nairobi. The envoy said that King Mohamed VI regards Kenya as an “honest and neutral broker”, along with Morocco, “for achieving peace and security” across the continent.

“All we want is our membership to be reinstated without pre-conditions,” explained Fihri. “We want to be part of the African Union as we want to work for all people.”

The sources also reported that the envoy praised the leadership of the Kenyan president, noting that this is why the Moroccan monarch would like him to mediate his country’s reintegration with the African Union.

Morocco left the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union, in 1984 in a dispute over Western Sahara’s membership of the organisation.