31, January 2017
Morocco rejoins African Union after 33 years of absence 0
The African Union has readmitted Morocco into the bloc 33 years after its withdrawal over the still existing Western Sahara dispute. The majority of the AU member states voted for the re-admission of during the 28th summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Monday, leaving the issue of the disputed territory of Western Sahara for another day.
“Morocco is now a full member of the African Union. There was a very long debate but 39 of our 54 states approved the return of Morocco, even if the Western Sahara question remains,” Senegalese President Macky Sall told reporters. “As we have said, if the family grows bigger, we can find solutions as a family,” Macky Sall added.
Algeria and South Africa were among the heavyweights that opposed the re-admission of Morocco. The country withdrew from the AU in 1984, when the mineral-rich and sparsely populated Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), commonly known as Western Sahara, was accepted as a member. Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975. It maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom, but the international community has not recognized the annexation.
Western Sahara is home to the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan presence in the territory. In 1991, Moroccan forces and Sahrawi rebels agreed on a UN-brokered truce and a referendum to settle the status of Western Sahara. However, the vote has never taken place. Some had feared Morocco would set the expulsion of the SADR as a precondition for its own return to the AU.
“From the moment that Morocco did not impose conditions … we take their word for it and accept that Morocco be admitted to the African Union,” said SADR Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek. Salek said the re-admission of Morocco will help pressure the authorities into holding a referendum to “allow the Sahrawi to choose their future”.
“Now (if) Morocco is blocking (it) will be questioned by the head of states: why are you afraid of a referendum? Why don’t you allow the Sahrawi to choose their future freely?” he said. Morocco has for several years been trying to return to the body as it reportedly seeks to expand its economy. In July 2016, Moroccan King Mohammed VI officially announced plans to rejoin the African Union.
Presstv
1, February 2017
UK: Parliament begins debate on Brexit bill 0
UK lawmakers have gathered in Parliament to debate whether the British government can trigger Britain’s formal exit from the European Union. A bill authorizing UK Prime Minister Theresa May to invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty starts its route through Parliament on Tuesday and is expected to pass overwhelmingly.
Although most lawmakers campaigned before the referendum to stay in the EU, most, including the leader of the opposition Labour Party, say they will vote to uphold the referendum’s result. Opening the debate, David Davis, secretary of state for exiting the EU, told parliamentarians they could not block the Brexit process.
The decision to leave the block is “a point of return already passed,” he said. “At the core of this bill lies a very simple question — do we trust the people or not?” Members of Parliament have been given until Wednesday to discuss the proposed legislation that would allow May to trigger the Brexit process.
The British government was forced to bring legislation to Parliament after the UK Supreme Court ruled it could not trigger Article 50 without approval from the Parliament. In a landmark referendum held on June 23, nearly 52 percent of British voters, amounting to more than 17 million citizens, opted to leave the EU, a decision that sent shock waves throughout the world.
Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the EU argued that outside the bloc, London would be better positioned to conduct its own trade negotiations, better able to control immigration and free from what they believe to be excessive EU regulations and bureaucracy.
Those in favor of remaining in the bloc believed that leaving it would risk the UK’s prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU. Retaining access to the single market has been one of the major worries for UK businesses ever since the referendum.
Presstv