Many African Union (AU) member states remain furious that AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat has unilaterally granted Israel observer status. Mahamat’s decision, announced in July 2021, has led some to accuse him of bringing “Israel through the back door into the AU”. Some countries have suggested that this move undermines AU procedures. Mahamat, in turn, argues that it’s within his rights as AU Commission chair to grant observer status to non-member states.
South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria have been the most vocal critics of the decision. Members of SADC announced their collective opposition in a letter addressed to Mahamat after the regional bloc’s August summit in Malawi.
Mahamat is planning to stand for Presidential elections in his home country, Chad, following the death of President Idris Derby in April 2021. It is believed that his controversial decision on Israel could be beneficial as he starts his campaign in earnest: According to some observers, “Mahamat needs friends with deep pockets as he kicks starts his presidential campaign.”
It is also highly unlikely that Mahamat made this decision without first discussing it with current AU Chairperson, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Tshisekedi is a committed evangelical Christian and well-known supporter of Israel; in March 2020 he was granted the rare opportunity to speak at an AIPAC meeting. AIPAC is a powerful pro-Israel lobby in the US. At the March 2020 event, Tshisekedi called Israel an inspiration and thanks US evangelicals for supporting Israel.
Here, too, money may be at play: the DRC needs help to save its economy from absolute collapse. Israel has provided monetary support to African countries as part of its foreign policy before. As New Africa Daily reported in July 2020: “The Congolese president has been pushing for greater diplomatic ties with Israel, motivated in part by his evangelical faith and desire to bring in Israeli investment and expertise to help modernize the country.”
Israeli observer status at the AU will grant the country proximity to member states and allow it sneak previews of the body’s agenda. It will also have a chance to use its deep pocket diplomacy to win support from other African countries. Israel, like many countries, seeks to access Africa for its natural resources; the DRC is especially attractive given the massive hydroelectric potential of its Congo River – estimates suggest the river could produce close to a third of the continent’s total hydroelectric power.
Importantly, Israel seeks support and votes from AU member states as it continues to be defeated and embarrassed at various multilateral platforms for its atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Another vehement supporter of Israel’s observer status in the AU is Morocco. When Morocco joined AU In 2017, I argued: “In truth, Morocco remains isolated and is beginning to feel the strain of that isolation. Like many North African countries, Morocco has been circumspect and often opportunistic in its dealings with Sub-Saharan Africa; it generally preferred the Arab League over the AU. That fact notwithstanding, the importance and influence of the Arab League has dwindled, especially since the 2013 coup in Egypt.”
The article argued that Morocco was feeling isolated and missing a number of photo opportunities at many international investment summits involving Africans across the globe. Moreover, I argued that Morocco was missing out on the bloc politicking that benefits many African countries. Moroccan officials said that AU membership would make it easier to deal with the Western Sahara issue inside the AU. Morocco intended to use its membership to promote its political agenda, mainly to lobby more members to renounce their recognition of the Western Sahara.
There was no talk of plans to push Israel’s agenda in the AU - but we later discovered this was one of the main objective all along.
Morocco has been successful in achieving two major objectives since joining the AU. First, on the issue of Western Sahara, it has regained a chance to formally lobby inside the AU against the autonomy and recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Second, it has upped efforts for the support of Israel’s observer status in the AU – bringing it into conflict with South Africa, which supports Morocco on the Western Sahara issue but is also a strong supporter of Palestine.
Morocco has clearly not been happy with South Africa’s domineering role at the AU and is committed to reduce the apparent South African hegemony. At what cost? There is likely to be division moving forward; differences on foreign policy and what is good for Africa are likely to become more pronounced.
Amongst other matters, the AU was meant to present a unified African foreign policy position often representing and benefiting weaker African states. The block politics of the AU have assisted weaker African states, which would ordinarily not be able to articulate independent positions at multilateral platforms. AU has also succeeded in pushing for trade treaties that benefited Africa as a whole using block politicking. Recently, the block negotiation and coordination of COVID-19 vaccinations strategies and donations from Western countries have been enabled by the AU. Dismantling that enabling environment and unity will certainly have a negative impact on AU’s future sociopolitical and economic agendas. The advent of Israel and creeping in of its deep pocket politics facilitated by countries such as Morocco is likely to further polarise the AU. It can also be argued that
Morocco’s advent or return to AU politics will certainly serve a negative agenda towards Africa’s unity. Morocco’s return has been mainly to push its own agenda inside the AU against SADR at the detriment of the cohesion of the AU. The AU will never function the same moving forward at least as long as Mousa Faki Mahamat remains the chairperson of the AU Commission and as long as Morocco continues to serve its own narrow political agenda and that of Israel.
About the author
Thembisa Fakude holds Masters degree in Politics. He is a columnist with the Middle East Monitor in London. He is a research fellow at Al Sharq Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. He also serves on the board of Common Action Forum in Madrid, Spain. He serves on the board of Mail and Guardian publication in South Africa. He is the former Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera Media Network for Arabic and English Channels in Southern Africa.