The admission of Israel as an observer member within the African Union (AU), which has been contested by many countries including Algeria, will be decided definitively at the next summit of heads of state of the pan-African organization. , announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday.
The issue was debated Friday at the Executive Council of the African body, said Ramtane Lamamra’s department, who underlined a “deep division” of African countries on the presence of Israel as an observer member within the AU.
“The hour-long debate that African foreign ministers have just had on the controversial issue of the observer status granted to Israel by Moussa Faki has highlighted a deep division among African Union member states,” he said. Ramtane Lamamra said after the meeting in Addis Ababa, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
The head of Algerian diplomacy indicated that many countries, like Algeria, opposed the “unfortunate” and “dangerous” decision of the president of the Commission Moussa Faki defended “the supreme interest of Africa which is embodied in its unity and that of its peoples”.
“Irreparable break”
Ramtane Lamamra regretted the fact that “Nigeria’s proposal, drawn up with Algeria, aimed at immediately restoring the status quo ante was not accepted by an activist minority represented by Morocco and some of its close allies including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which provided a particularly partial presidency of the meeting”.
He added that the pleadings of South Africa and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in favor of the just cause of the Palestinian people have “conveniently put into perspective the serious damage caused by the decision of Moussa Faki to heritage history of Africa’s struggle against colonialism and apartheid”.
Lamamra ended his statement by indicating that the ministers of the majority current who are “aware that the institutional crisis engendered by the irresponsible decision of Moussa Faki tends to make the division of the continent irreversible, have agreed to submit the question to the Summit of Heads of ‘State of the African Union scheduled for next February”.
“We must therefore hope that the Summit will mark a healthy start to an Africa worthy of its history and will not endorse an irreparable break,” he said.
