Rabat – The new AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security Bankole Adeoye discussed continental peace and security during a recent meeting with Morocco’s ambassador to the AU, Mohammed Arrouchi.
The new AU commissioner announced the meeting in a tweet on March 26, saying he was pleased to receive the Moroccan ambassador to discuss continental issues on peace, security, and development.
“He assured of working together with the AU Commission, towards achieving the Africa We Want as enshrined in Agenda 2063,” Adeoye said of his meeting with Morocco’s AU representative.
Read also: Western Sahara: Morocco Considers AU PSC Meeting a ‘Non-Event’
The AU official also expressed his determination to work with Morocco to uphold fundamental AU values of “African unity, good neighbourliness, solidarity, and mutual respect.”
The meeting suggests the AU Peace and Security Council is ready to turn a new page in its cooperation with Morocco. Adeoye’s predecessor, Algeria’s Smail Chergui, notoriously used his post to torpedo AU regulations on the Western Sahara conflict and promote Polisario’s independence claims .
The meeting between the AU official and the Moroccan ambassador comes a few weeks after the latest U Peace and Security Council’s meeting on Western Sahara on March 9.
Read also:What AU Western Sahara Communique Means for Morocco’s African Diplomacy
Following the meeting, the AU body released a statement that appeared to call into question Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
It also defied the AU’s Decision 693 of 2018, according to which the pna-African organization will not push for a parallel solution to the Western Sahara and will confine itself to following the lead of the UN Security Council.
The AU adopted the decision to limit the role of the AU in Western Sahara after the attempt of Polisario’s sympathizers to involve the pan-African organization in the political process.
Morocco responded to the hostile statement by arguing that the controversial meeting of the AUPSC was a “non-event.”
On March 19, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, drew attention to the growing international support for Morocco’s Western Sahara position. Two-thirds of African countries do not recognize Polisario’s self-proclaimed SADR, while most of the states on the continent support the Moroccan character of the Sahara, Bourita said.
