THE South African Communist Party (SACP) and ANC condemned the readmission of Morocco to the African Union (AU) yesterday.

The ruling alliance partners spoke out a day after the AU summit in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa voted to approve the kingdom’s application.

Rabat left the AU’s predecessor, the Organisation for African Unity, in 1984 after the bloc recognised Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara’s (the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic’s) claim to independence.

Sahrawi ambassador to Ethiopia and the AU Lamine Baali said the vote was taken “with the understanding that Western Sahara will remain a member.”

Sahrawi official Sidi Mohammed told the BBC the move was a “good opportunity” and “a chance to work together.”

But ANC international relations commmittee chair Edna Molewa said “This decision represents a significant setback to the cause of the Sahrawi people and their quest for self-determination and independence.”

“By readmitting Morocco, the AU is tacitly endorsing the long-standing occupation of the Western Sahara.

Ms Molewa stressed the ANC’s long-standing ties to the Sahrawi Polisario liberation movement and noted that those nations still ruled by such movements were those who voted against the readmission.

SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo said: “The AU owes the people of Africa and the world an explanation how it would now resolve the problem of Western Sahara’s colonial occupation by Morocco, which is now emboldened by its admission to the AU.”

The summit also elected Chad’s Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat as its new commission chairman, replacing South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Mr Mahamat is seen as a supporter of the International Criminal Court, which Burundi, South Africa and Gambia chose to leave last year.

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