General News of Wednesday, 23 August 2000

Source: Panafrican News Agency

Rawlings Wants Morocco to Rejoin OAU

President Jerry Rawlings on Wednesday received a message from King Mohamed VI of Morocco and appealed to the North African country to rejoin the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

"It is our genuine desire to see Morocco back to the OAU.

What caused Morocco to leave the continental body could be resolved," he said, after receiving the message from Mohamed Benaissa, the Moroccan Foreign Minister.

Morocco quit the OAU in 1984 in anger when the continental organisation recognised the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as an independent state after Spain, the former colonial master, vacated the territory without granting it independence.

Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania carved up the phosphate- rich territory, provoking a liberation war by the territory's freedom fighters.

Algeria and Mauritania renounced their claims, compelling Morocco to claim the whole territory.

Moroccan troops and SADR guerrillas have fought battles over the years and now there is a cease-fire holding to enable the UN to solve the problem through a referendum to give its inhabitants the chance to decide whether they want to be part of Morocco or be independent.

Rawlings said allowing the UN to solve the problem "is a good compromise," adding that Ghana's relations with SADR, which it recognised, "falls in line with its principled relations with other African countries".

He said Ghana and Morocco have enjoyed good relations over the years especially during the long reign of late King Hassan and hoped these relations would be enhanced under the new king.

"The message from King Mohamed is a testimony of our mutual desire to forge closer co-operation to avoid being left behind in the changing world," Rawlings said, adding that "globalisation is not a threat but if we do not handle it well it will be."

Meanwhile, Benaissa has announced that Morocco is to re-open its embassy in Ghana.

He told reporters that Morocco was one of the first African countries to recognise the independence of Ghana and followed it with the establishment of air links between Casablanca and Accra.