Rwanda: ‘Time has come for Morocco’ to rejoin to AU

“The time has come” for Morocco to return to the African Union, the Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told reporters yesterday.

Speaking during the first day of the visit by Moroccan King Mohammed VI to the Rwandan capital Kigali, Mushikiwabo said: “Morocco has been absent since 1984…For us, the time has come for Morocco to join its brothers and sisters again.”

Morocco left the union in protest against the admission of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), a Polisario group, as a member.

During his visit, the Moroccan monarch chaired the signing of 19 bilateral agreements with Rwandan President Paul Kagame regarding a variety of sectors: tourism, pharmaceuticals, banking and more.

Morocco officially filed a request to re-enter the African Union in September. Morocco’s move was has been supported by 28 countries, which submitted a motion to the organization, and called for the freezing Polisario’s membership in the AU.

“It is the overwhelming majority of African countries which support and applaud the return of Morocco in its corporate family,” Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said.

King Mohammed VI previously said Morocco’s return to the AU – which requires approval through a vote within the union’s commission – did not mean the country backtracked on its territorial claims in the Western Sahara.