Western Sahara dispute threatens to scupper plans for EU-Africa summit

Date: 16/12/1999

By Gareth Harding

One of the flagship events planned by the Portuguese presidency - a summit of EU and African leaders in April - is in danger of sinking without trace because of arguments over who should be invited to the Cairo meeting.

The Union wants all African countries to be present at the get-together. But Morocco has said it will not show up if Western Sahara is given a seat at the table. Rabat invaded the former Spanish colony in 1976 and after the majority of Organisation of African Unity countries recognised the desert state, it left the continental club.

In turn, the EU has made it clear that an African summit without Morocco would be like Egypt without the pyramids. “There is no question of us leaving it out in the cold,” said one Portuguese official, adding: “It is very important for us as a country and the EU as a whole to have improved ties with Morocco.”

A presidency official admitted that the talks were “running into trouble,” while an African diplomat said that if the problem was not solved by Christmas, the summit would have to be postponed.

Officials from both sides are now frantically trying to hammer out a compromise. Portuguese diplomats, in particular, are desperately trying to salvage the conference, which was first mooted by Lisbon four years ago and has been billed as one of the highlights of the country's six-month stint at the Union's helm.

One possible solution being floated by diplomats is to exclude Western Sahara from the conference proper but invite the annexed territory to meet EU and OAU representatives the next day.

Despite growing doubts about whether the summit will take place or not, officials are still keen to stress the importance of the first-ever meeting between the two continents' leaders.

The Union holds regular high-level get-togethers with south-east Asian and Latin American countries and has annual summits with major industrial powers. But Africa has so far remained 'the forgotten continent' and only registers on the EU's radar screen when wars, famines or unrest break out.

The agenda for the planned 3-4 April summit is still sketchy because of differences over the scope of the meeting. The EU appears happy to limit the programme to stern lecturing on the importance of democracy, good governance and human rights and a swift run-through of key flashpoints. Union officials say that under no circumstances do they want it to become a pledging conference.

African countries are, however, keen to talk about debt, development policy and the alleviation of poverty, and are reluctant to listen to pious preaching from their old colonisers.

Both sides acknowledge that there is a danger that the neeting will simply turn into a gigantic photo opportunity for EU and African leaders. As one diplomat closely involved in organising the gathering put it, “it is hard to see what concrete results can come out of the summit”.