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African Union has been divided over granting Israel observer status to the continental body.
Sameh Rahmi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- For more than a decade the African Union has been divided over granting Israel observer status to the continental body.
- Morocco supports Israel over Palestine in a trade-off with the US over recognition of its claim on Western Sahara.
- Morocco, controls about 80% of Western Sahara while the Algeria-backed Polisario Front controls the remaining 20% territory.
In January this year, Mandla Mandela took a bold stance when he called for the freedom of Palestine and Western Sahara at the opening ceremony of the under-17 African Nations Championship in Algeria.
Speaking at the newly built Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers, Mandla was met with contempt from Morocco, which controls about 80% of Western Sahara and has pushed for its authority over the territory to be officially recognised.
The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, controls the remaining 20% as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara), which is recognised by the African Union as a full member.
Morocco happens to be one of the African countries that support Israel in one of the world’s longest-continuing wars, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
In recent history, Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara was recognised by the US in 2020 under then-president Donald Trump.
READ | ANC ‘stands with people of occupied Palestine’, party says as Israel-Palestine conflict rages
The US’ support was a trade-off for Morocco’s recognition of Israel.
That means Algeria and Morocco are on different sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a statement in response to the recent attacks, Algeria condemned the “brutal Israeli attack on Gaza”, which resulted in “innocent sons and daughters of the Palestinian people who fell as martyrs under the persistence of Israeli occupation”.
For its part, Tunisia said: “It is the right of the Palestinians to take back all Palestinian land.”
African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat at the weekend found himself in a tight spot when he issued a statement that the AU “calls on the international community, and the major world powers in particular, to assume their responsibilities to impose peace and guarantee the rights of the two peoples” in Israel and Palestine.
In reality, Africa is divided over the Israel-Palestine issue.
Before the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was renamed the African Union in 2002, Israel enjoyed observer status in the continental bloc.
That meant Israel, along with about 90 external partners of the OAU, had access to some of the continental bloc’s documents and sessions, provided they supported the bloc’s work.
The main fight at the AU over Israel is between most of the League of Arab States (excluding Algeria and Tunisia) and most of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
READ | Israel still frozen out of AU observer status
Israel failed in 2013 and 2016 to be granted observer status because the AU demanded an “end to the Israeli occupation that started in 1967, [and] the independence of the state of Palestine on boundaries of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
In July 2021, Israel once again showed interest in being an observer nation to the AU.
This attempt didn’t go well with 21 of the AU’s 55 states.
South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe were opposed to the readmission of Israel – a strong stance considering that they have bilateral relations with Israel.
Latest reports say the intense bombardment has so far displaced more than 120 000 people in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Elsewhere on the continent, Kenya is in support of Israel.
President William Ruto said in a statement: “Kenya strongly maintains that there exists no justification whatsoever for terrorism which constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security.
“All acts of terrorism and violent extremism are abhorrent, criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of the perpetrator or their motivations.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Félix Tshisekedi said he was in solidarity with Israel and said the two countries remained “united to fight terrorism in all its forms”.
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