President Condé Pays Tribute to Morocco before Handing over AU Presidency to Rwanda’s President

Longstanding friend and ally of Morocco in Africa, President Alpha Conde of Guinea, paid tribute to Morocco on the sidelines of the 30th African Union’s Summit held in Addis Ababa January 28-29.

“We are all aware of the role that late king Mohammed V played (in favor of Africa)” and the support that the late Sovereign had given to the liberation movements in the continent,” Condé, AU’s outgoing President, told reporters before handing the Organization’s presidency to his successor Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.

The Guinean president shed light on the significance of the Casablanca Conference in 1961 that offered a basis for the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, replaced by the African Union (AU) in 2002.

“I am very pleased that during my term, Morocco was able to join the AU unanimously,” added the Guinean president, underlining that “Morocco returns to its African institutional family to unite and federate the energies of Africans.”

Morocco, which has received more than 100,000 African students and regularized the situation of immigrants from many countries of the continent, is “a good model” to be followed by other States, said Condé.

He also stressed that the 30th Summit of AU heads of State and Government, which opened on Sunday at the organization’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, will be marked by the presentation by Morocco of its vision and road map on the issue of immigration that should be endorsed by the pan-African bloc.