A total of sixteen former African prime ministers and foreign ministers launched, on Friday in Tangier, a solemn appeal for the expulsion of the so-called 'sadr' from the African Union (AU).
The "Tangier Appeal", issued at the end of a round-table discussion organized as part of the MEDays Forum (November 2-5), advocates the need to "correct the historical anomaly, legal aberration and political misunderstanding that is the illegal and illegitimate admission, and then the unjustified maintenance within the continental organization of the pseudo-"sadr" and its negative operational impact.
The former African officials who signed the document believe that the accession of the puppet entity to the AU is "in violation of Articles 3(b) and 4(b) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union," noting that the so-called "rasd" is "an artificial entity imposed on the sole Organization of African Unity/African Union, against all legitimacy and legality."
According to the document, this artificial entity "does not obey any of the constituent elements of a state, namely a territory, a population and an effective government," adding that it has no sovereignty, independence, or international legal responsibility.
This puppet entity is "without added value" for the continent, they note, stressing that on the contrary it "hinders the effectiveness of the AU" and "threatens African unity and political and economic integration" of the continent, while "threatening regional stability and security.
In addition, the signatories of this document ask the Amadeus Institute and its African think tanks partners to produce a "White Paper" gathering their analyses and their recommendations, resulting from this round-table as well as from conferences and meetings held previously in several countries of the continent.
This document also establishes a "Contact Group" in charge of carrying the present "Tangier Appeal", supported by the above-mentioned "White Paper" to the African Heads of State and decision-makers of the African Union.
The Contact Group decided to remain mobilized for "the realization of this objective necessary for the credibility of the AU, thus for the future of the continent.
According to its initiators, the "Tangier Appeal" is inspired by the ideals of the Founding Fathers of Pan-Africanism, promoting unity, solidarity, cohesion and effective economic cooperation among the independent and sovereign states of Africa.
The Appeal salutes and commemorates the "historic work of the Casablanca Group, its Pan-Africanist ideals and the memory of its illustrious host, the late His Majesty King Mohammed V".
Similarly, the Tangier Appeal "warmly welcomes the solemn return, in January 2017, of the Kingdom of Morocco, a founding member state of the Organization of African Unity, to the African Union and the sustained efforts, commendable initiatives and sincere contributions that the Kingdom has not ceased to make, since then, to the Objectives and Action of our continental organization, under the aegis of the Moroccan Sovereign."
The Contact Group of the Tangier Appeal is composed of the former Prime Ministers of Djibouti, Dileita Mohamed Dileita, and of the Central African Republic, Martin Ziguélé; and by the former Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Eswatini, Lutfo Dlamini, Liberia, Gbehzohngar Milton Findley, Gabon, Régis Immongault Tatangani, Malawi, Francis Kasaila, Senegal, Mankeur Ndiaye, Guinea, Mamadi Touré, and Kenya, Rafael Tuju.
The "Tangier Appeal" is also supported by several other personalities who are represented by the "Contact Group". These are: the former Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, Augusto António Artur da Silva; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somalia, Mohamed Abdirizak Mohamud; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, Alpha Barry; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Benin, Jean-Marie Ehouzou; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Comoros, Fahmi Said Ibrahim El Maceli; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cape Verde, Luis Felipe Lopes Tavares and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Leonard She Okitundu Lundula.
