Algeria and South Africa have endured a stinging setback on the eve of the 4th EU-Africa summit held this April 2-3 in Brussels.
Algiers and Pretoria have actually asked Brussels to invite the Polisario-proclaimed Sahrawi Republic to the summit and to exclude Morocco under the pretext that it withdrew from the African Union decades ago. But their request was rejected.
They seemed to ignore that Morocco was one of the founding members of the African Union, the previous Organization of African Unity (OAU) and that it slammed the doors following the admission of the ghostly Sahrawi Republic.
The South African President Jacob Zuma, a staunch ally of the Algerian regime whenever it is question of hostility against Morocco, was so bothered by Morocco’s presence at the summit that he decided to boycott the gathering.
In their conniving hostility against Morocco, the rulers of Pretoria and Algiers worked hard behind the scenes in Brussels not only to exclude Morocco from the summit but also to have a delegation of the Sahrawi republic invited to the meeting.
However, as reported by the South African website “Daily News,” Brussels has flatly rejected the Algerian and South African requests since only the countries recognized by the UN and the EU are invited to the summit.
South Africa which seeks, like Algeria, to impose its leadership in the continent also asked Brussels to exclude Egypt from the EU-Africa summit on the grounds that this country has been suspended by the AU following the ouster of the elected president, Mohamed Morsi, by the military.
According to the Zimbabwean website herald.co.zw, the AU Peace and Security Commission (PSC) chaired by Algerian diplomat, Smail Chergui, found it hard to accept the exclusion of the Polisario and the invitation of Morocco although it is no longer member of the Pan African organization.
The commission accused the EU of despising Africa when it arrogated to itself the right to control the guest list to the Africa- EU Summit. The commission went as far as calling for a boycott of the Brussels summit. With the windfall of petrodollars, the Algerian diplomacy resorts to all means to discredit Morocco, which, on the contrary, reinforces its position in Africa and in the rest of world.