Beitrag vom 09.08.2021

The Africa Report

African Union: Governments divided over Israel’s observer status

By Marième Soumaré

"We learned it like you, by reading the press release distributed on the website of the organisation!" said a diplomat in Addis Ababa who had been asked how he found out that Israel had been granted observer status in the African Union. "How can the chairman of the commission take such a decision without even consulting the member states?"

Since Israeli ambassador Chad Aleli Admasu presented his credentials to AU Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat on 22 July, several members of the organisation have denounced what they term as a ‘unilateral’ decision by the Chadian diplomat.

South Africa, which was the first to issue a statement, expressed its “dismay” and criticised the decision by the commission as “unjust and unjustified”.

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