AU: The False Excuse of Algerian Smaïl Chergui for not Attending PSC Meeting in Morocco

The African Union Commissioner for Peace & Security, Smail Chergui, has apparently snubbed the meeting of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union, convening in the Moroccan coastal city of Skhirat with the participation of delegates of all its 15-member countries.

In a bid to justify his absence, the cunning Algerian diplomat, known for his hostility to Morocco’s territorial integrity and overt support to the polisario separatists, cooked up a cock and bull story.

In a cable sent to participants, Mr. Chergui said he could not make it to Morocco because of an urgent matter related to the resolution of a conflict without disclosing more details on the conflict or the country where this conflict is taking place. No words minced on the good offices used to defuse such a conflict.

Nobody believes the fairy-tale put forward by Smaïl Chergui who reportedly purchased the votes to secure his re-election as chief of the PSC, tasked with peace-making and peace-building initiatives to resolve conflicts in the African continent.

Two thirds of the AU budget are allotted to the PSC. In 2018, 37 women working for the African organization accused Mr. Chergui of having set up a “professional apartheid”, labeling him as a “misogynist” commissioner since he took over the Peace and Security Council in 2013, replacing the former Algerian Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra.

Furthermore, under his tenure, conflicts rocking Africa soared (Libya, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic…) while the AU Commissioner for Peace & Security lives in a luxurious Addis Ababa villa ath a €150,000 rental price tag.

The Moroccan diplomacy has unveiled his biased stands and hostility against the North African Kingdom, leading to the African Union to withdraw the Sahara issue from the hands of the Commissioner for Peace & Security.

Like his predecessor Ramtane Lamamra, Smaïl Chergui used the PSC as an instrument to undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity. His hatred for Morocco is not a mystery. In 2016, Smaïl Chergui campaigned aggressively and openly against the return of the North African Kingdom to the African Union but he failed along with his minority supporters.

After Morocco rejoined his African institutional family, the margin of maneuver of the enemies of the North African country is narrowing and they can no longer act freely and get away with their deceits and plots.

It seems that Mr. Smaïl Chergui and his likes can’t stand seeing Morocco thriving and enlarging its economic and political influence, while its Algerian neighbor is descending in chaos and rocked by unprecedented popular protest movement since February.