31st Summit : The African Union wants to reopen its representing office at the MINURSO

As Moroccan officials hailed some of the suggestions made public by Moussa Faki Mahamat’s report on Western Sahara, they have completely ignored other proposals that sounded less appealing.

In addition to the creation of an African Union mechanism to monitor the situation in Western Sahara, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission recommended the opening of an office for the pan-African organization at the MINURSO’s headquarters in Laayoune.

At the heart of the crisis that targeted the former UN Secretary-General Personal Envoy for Western Sahara Ban Ki-moon in March 2016, the Kingdom closed the UN mission’s office and expelled the three officials that represented the African organization. At the time Rabat was not a member of the African Union.

Is Morocco ready to face both the UN and the AU at the same time ?

Reopening the African Union’s office at the MINURSO’s headquarters might lead to the entry of the AU's special envoy for Western Sahara, Joaquim Chissano. Previously, Morocco had refused to receive the Mozambican official, appointed in 2014.

The new proposal can also leave room to the Union’s different bodies, looking forward to monitoring the human rights situation in Western Sahara, such as the Peace and Security Council and the African Court of Human Rights.

For the record, a delegation sent by the above-mentioned African Union body visited the Tindouf camps in February. During this visit, President Sylvain Oré announced that he would like to go on similar trips to the part controlled by Morocco.

«Involving the African union in the conflict can create serious problems for Morocco. It will have to face the UN Security Council and the African Union at the same time», a well-informed source told Yabiladi.

«Previously, Rabat had to prepare for the April meeting in New York, now the Kingdom must deal with two meetings : The January and the July AU summits», the same source pointed out.

As for the monitoring mechanism, Morocco might have some serious problems. «What do we do when negotiations will be attended by presidents of South Africa, Kenya and Mauritania ?», asked the same source.