Algeria, Kenya dealt a blow at AU Peace and Security Council summit

The Summit of the African Union Peace and Security Council emerged as a platform to disavow Algeria and Kenya, who vainly maneuvered to include the Sahara issue in the agenda of the meeting initially devoted to climate change.

 

At Algeria’s instigation, Kenya, which holds the rotating presidency of the AU Peace and Security Council, saw it fit to include the Sahara issue in the summit discussions.

 

But that was a wrong thing to do. First blow: only 4 out of 15 African leaders responded to the invitation of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta; second blow: the majority of participants rejected the maneuver, reiterating the exclusivity of the UN in the search for a political solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara.

It must be said that Algeria has found itself stuck on the Sahara issue since the adoption of Decision 693, at the AU summit in Nouakchott, in July 2018.

 

The Decision clearly stipulated that only the AU Troika of Heads of State can address the Sahara issue, and only in support of the efforts of the UN which remains the exclusive framework to address this question.

 

Despite this decision that was taken unanimously by African leaders, Algeria repeatedly attempt to include the Sahara issue in the AU’s agenda, setting aside its polisario puppet and its official claim that it is a mere observer country in the issue.