Rabat – King Mohammed VI’s visit to Ghana has been postponed, Ghanaian media reported on Wednesday based on a statement issued by Ghana’s presidency.
The three-day visit to Ghana was set to begin Wednesday, for the purpose of meeting with new Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo in Accra. Instead, Ghana’s president issued a statement, signed by Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin, saying, “Unfortunately, His Majesty the King, Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, has had to postpone his scheduled visit to Ghana. A new date for the visit will be communicated in due course.”
The King’s postponed visit was part of Morocco’s desire to be reinstated to the African Union (AU) during the continental organization’s summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the end of January.
Following the formal request of the King to rejoin the AU, made during the 27th Summit of the AU, held last July, Morocco’s appointed Head of Government, Abdelilah Benkirane said last week, “King Mohammed VI will travel to Addis Ababa for the AU summit, to stand up for Morocco’s return to the Pan-African organization.
After King Mohammed VI chaired a council of Ministers, last Tuesday in the Royal Palace in Marrakech, to adopt the Constituent Act of the AU, the Committee of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Islamic Affairs and Moroccans Living Abroad, in the House of Representatives, unanimously adopted the bill on the approval of the Constitutive Act of the AU.
Morocco submitted its official request to the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, during the UN General Assembly in New York last September.
As part of Morocco’s goal to consolidate South-South partnership, King Mohammed paid visits to several countries over the past six month, including Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Madagascar. Supporting these critical relationships are groundbreaking economic projects, which should add fresh impetus to Morocco’s bid to regain the AU seat it gave up in 1984.
Morocco’s withdrawal from the AU was fueled by the pan-African organization’s public acceptance of the self-proclaimed SADR as a full-fledged member state.
