Morocco’s AU Readmission Bid And Ghana’s Support  

Morocco has asked the African Union (AU) to readmit it to the pan-African organisation it left 32 years ago, but without preconditions.

“It has been a long time that our friends have been asking Morocco to take back its seat in its natural institutional place (AU), and now the time has come,” King Mohammed said in a letter to the AU chairman, Chadian President Idriss

Deby.
But AU Commission deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha said if Morocco wanted to return, “there is a process that they must go through”.

This meant that they should formally give an indication that they wanted to return, “and the individual member states would have to vote, and that will carry the day as to if Morocco can come back”.

Morocco withdrew from the then Organisation of African Unity in 1984 after it accepted the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as member.

And since then, the issue of the SADR continues to be a divisive one for AU member-countries. While some consider the SADR to be sovereign and have diplomatic relations with it, many support Morocco’s claim over the territory.

And cognizant of that fact, the kingdom is not resting on its oars in its readmission bid as it is also rallying support from individual AU member-countries.

In Nairobi recently, Morocco special envoy Taieb Fassi Fihri told Presdent Uhuru Kenyatta that King Mohamed VI considers Kenya as an honest and neutral broker who can partner with his country in achieving peace and security in the continent.

“All we want is our membership to be reinstated without pre-conditions. We want to be part and parcel of the African Union as we want to work for all people. The Moroccan leadership is very optimistic and hopeful on your leadership as a neutral and honest broker on this issue,” said the special envoy.

He said Morocco’s belief in Kenyatta’s strong leadership was why King Mohammed VI would like Kenya’s support in his country’s efforts to be reintegrated back to the African Union.

President Kenyatta thanked the Moroccan government for their willingness to be re-admitted to the African Union saying it is only through partnership that solutions to global problems can be reached.

“We have to work together to find solutions to our problems. Kenya believes in not imposing solutions but being an honest broker, we look at how we can be part of the solution and not part of the problem,” said President Kenyatta.

Morocco is also making similarly aggressive campaigns to other parts of Africa to boost support for its bid to offer Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.

Moroccan officials have been in Algiers and Abuja.
The North African kingdom has also been negotiating with the United Nations over the return of civilian staff to the MINURSO peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara.

Morocco expelled dozens of MINURSO staff earlier this year after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used the word “occupation” to describe Rabat’s 1975 annexation of the territory.

The U.N. mission was formed more than 20 years ago ahead of an expected referendum on the Western Sahara’s political future that has never taken place.

But, Ghana, even if for old time’s sake, also need to strategically weigh in now to help her colleague-pioneer in the pan-African struggle to regain her seat in the AU, which both Morocco and Ghana helped found.

Ghana's first President Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah and Morocco's King Mohammed V played crucial roles in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, now African Union), the precursor of the current AU (African Union) through their strategic leadership of the Casablanca Group.

The Casablanca Group which also comprised Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Libya and Mali pursued a radical, progressive stance in the then burgeoning Africa emancipation struggle, and shared values on the question of African unity, which culminated in the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963.

Ghana and Morocco have also been important members of the non-aligned movement since 1961.

Morocco proclaimed the principle of non-alignment immediately after independence in and subsequently launched a struggle for the evacuation of foreign troops from the country as well as the closing of foreign military bases. In 1961, the last French troops withdrew from Morocco. In 1963, the United States was also compelled to close its military bases in Morocco.

Similarly, Ghana, at independence, adopted a policy of non-alignment with any of the major world powers; but rather adopted a pragmatic outlook in seeking economic cooperation with a number of countries, both in the East and West.

Both countries are equally committed to good neighbourliness, regional economic wellbeing and maintenance of peace and security locally and in the sub-region and beyond so much so that they are among Africa's leading contributors of military troops involved in UN peacekeeping operations.

Fortunately, Ghana and Morocco share mutual interests and benefits in trade, tradable goods and cultural exchanges for centuries; and, since Ghana's independence, Morocco continues to be an important partner of the country's in both political and trade relations, with the north African country being a consistent destination for Ghana's fresh fruit exports, particularly pineapples and bananas.

Also, Moroccan trade and investment in West Africa has risen to over half a billion dollars over the years, with Ghana being a major focus of many of them.

In bilateral ties, both traditionally friendly countries continue to explore new opportunities to further strengthen and deepen their mutual ties, with the latest being the Ghana-Morocco Permanent Joint-Commission for Cooperation (PJCC) the operational framework which is presently being firmed up by negotiators from both sister countries.

When adopted, the PJCC would provide avenues for mutual cooperation between the two countries in the areas of trade, commerce, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, energy and investment.

But, regardless, time is now for both brother countries to move their ties up to more ambitious levels and consolidate progress made in recent times.

Specifically, Accra and Rabat need to urgently move to strengthen the legal framework pertaining to trade relations through the establishment of an ambitious Preferential Trade Agreement and a Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation between the two countries.

Specifically, both countries urgently need to promote a Ghana-Morocco bilateral economic partnership whose centre-piece should be Moroccan and Ghanaian private sector players, and the establishment of a legal framework in the fields of air and maritime transport.

Currently, Ghana imports from Morocco on average goods amounting to 60 million dollars annually while its exports to the North African country averaged 3 million dollars.

Both countries could do better, however.
One quick way is to establish a convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation between the two countries, and the activation of the signing of the Agreement of the Promotion and the Reciprocal Protection of Investments the two countries already signed in 2005.

Another is to exploiting people-to-people economic diplomacy strategies by immediately creating opportunities to link up the two countries' business communities, as well as facilitate efforts to develop and grow existing businesses and capacities.

Morocco already has the highest spending per capita in Africa, according to reports.

In addition to being in pole position to lead Africa in aeronautics, the kingdom, along with South Africa, also looks set to emerge as a digital leader in Africa by 2025.

Already, the kingdom has the highest internet penetration in Africa, according to a recent report by the reputed American consulting firm McKinsey which sampled 14 African countries, including three North African states of Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. Figures revealed that approximately half of Moroccans were online in 2012 as opposed to the general African average of sixteen per cent.

With a trade balance which contributes 40 per cent of GDP, According to the same source, Morocco's achievement is explained by the kingdom's successful Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, said the report.

Morocco also seeks to expand its renewable energy capacity with a goal of making renewable 40 per cent of electricity output by 2020.

All these Ghana can tap into by supporting the kingdom’s AU readmission bid.