Morocco has officially announced plans to rejoin the African Union more than three decades after it left the bloc in protest at the independence of Western Sahara. King Mohammed VI sent a message to the leaders of the union as they began a two-day summit in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Sunday, saying it’s time for his country to retake its position in the organization.

“For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them, so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family. The moment has now come,” said the monarch. He said although Morocco left the club, “it never quit Africa.” In 1984, King Mohammed’s father, King Hassan II, pulled the North African country out of the union over the decision to accept the independence of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as a formal member.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 and considers it the kingdom’s “southern province.” For decades, the United Nations has been seeking to hold a referendum on independence for the territory. While the government in Morocco continues to carry out multi-million-dollar development projects in the territory, several African countries recognize the area as the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Morocco has offered wide-ranging autonomy for the region, but the Polisario Front, the independence movement in the Western Sahara insists that a referendum be held so that the local population can decide their fate. Leaders of the movement warned in April that that if the UN Security Council fails to set a timetable for a vote on self-determination, war will be possible over the disputed territory.

Presstv

Antoinette Sassou, wife of the Congolese head of state Sassou Nguesso, has been summoned by US attorneys in Washington. Cameroon Concord News is aware Madam Sassou Nguesso is wanted by a US court following a complaint from a pool of lawyers in a debt case that involves the Congolese government and the Commisimpex society.

The hydra-headed issue started as far back as 1992 when a Lebanese businessman, Mohsen Hojeij, claimed the Nguesso family and the Congolese government owed him a debt of nearly 100 million dollars. In 1993, the amount totaled € 675 million in 2013. In 2016, the debt is estimated at 1 billion (one billion). The complainant has handed over the case to a US law firm to track down the asset of the Sassou Nguesso family in the United States.

A source at the presidential palace in Brazzaville was quoted earlier today as saying the first lady will not respond to the summons of the American lawyers. However, the case opens the way to US investigators, to delve into the rich heritage of the Nguesso family. Thus, the properties of the Sassou Nguesso clan, including Willy Etoka, Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, Bruno Jean Richard Itoua, Denis Ngokana, Antoinette Sassou Nguesso via  Cameroonian businessman Yaya Moussa, Claudia Sassou Nguesso are all now at the mercy of the American justice system.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)