With the rotating presidency of the African Union, it falls this year to a supporter of the Western Sahara state. This comes after last years denial of special envoy former Mozambican President to enter the territory.
So long as Morocco remains outside the AU and sees its interests and destiny as tied to Europe and the Atlantic, how effective can the AU hope to be on this issue?
You may be glad to know that each time I teach the course, someone works on the issue of Sahrawi sovereignty from some angle or other.
Excellent Question. The de-colonization of states in Africa led to a long process of international recognition The SADR came little late to this party, starting with a few African states in the late 1970s. While the SADR made a lot of progress in international recognition in the two decades from 1976-1996 ( a list of almost 80 countries including states in Europe, the Americas, and Asia). Between 1996-2012, 37 states have frozen or withdrawn their recognition. Including many African states. In order to gain Independence the SADR has had to first attempt to stop the decline of its international recognition. in the past 5 years the SADR has worked to rebuild recognition. This new phase of recognition has shown some serious glimmers of hope outside of Africa. Including increased dealings with Swedish fishing companies and a Danish piece of legislation to recognize the SADR. Basically in order to keep the movement alive SADR has had to try to stop loosing support from its early base the AU.
So long as Morocco remains outside the AU and sees its interests and destiny as tied to Europe and the Atlantic, how effective can the AU hope to be on this issue?
ReplyDeleteYou may be glad to know that each time I teach the course, someone works on the issue of Sahrawi sovereignty from some angle or other.
Excellent Question. The de-colonization of states in Africa led to a long process of international recognition The SADR came little late to this party, starting with a few African states in the late 1970s. While the SADR made a lot of progress in international recognition in the two decades from 1976-1996 ( a list of almost 80 countries including states in Europe, the Americas, and Asia). Between 1996-2012, 37 states have frozen or withdrawn their recognition. Including many African states. In order to gain Independence the SADR has had to first attempt to stop the decline of its international recognition. in the past 5 years the SADR has worked to rebuild recognition. This new phase of recognition has shown some serious glimmers of hope outside of Africa. Including increased dealings with Swedish fishing companies and a Danish piece of legislation to recognize the SADR. Basically in order to keep the movement alive SADR has had to try to stop loosing support from its early base the AU.
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