ALGIERS (Dispatches) – Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra has chastized the chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission for defending his decision last month to grant the Zionist regime observer status at the African bloc, saying insistence on the measure will eventually result in the breakup of the regional organization.
“Moussa Faki Mahamat sought to defend himself [in the face of growing condemnations over the step] and accordingly made the latest remarks. He is unaware of the consequences that the decision will cause,” Lamamra said in an interview with Algeria’s al-Fadjr daily newspaper on Saturday.
He said Faki’s comments will not dissuade South Africa, Tunisia, Eritrea, Senegal, Tanzania, Niger, Comoros, Gabon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Mali and Seychelles from expelling the occupying regime from the 55-member African Union.
On Friday, Faki defended the move to admit the regime as an AU observer member, saying he made the decision on the basis of the recognition of the regime and the restoration of diplomatic relations with several AU member states.
According to a report by London-based online newspaper Rai al-Youm, Algeria has officially begun forming a group of African countries opposed to the regime’s membership in order to preserve the principles of the union and to support Palestine.
Lamamra has stressed that his country would not stand idly by the African Union’s move which was adopted without any consultation with its member states.
On July 22, the Zionist regime attained observer status at the AU after nearly 20 years of lobbying.
Namibia joined South Africa and several continental civil society groups on July 29 to reject the African Union Commission’s decision to grant the regime observer status at the regional body.
“Granting observer status to an occupying power is contrary to the principles and objectives of the Constitutive Act of the African Union,” Penda Naanda, executive director of Namibia’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, said in a statement.
Naanda said it was wrong to grant the regime observer status, particularly at a time when it is increasing its acts of oppression in total violation of international law and disregard for the human rights of the Palestinian people.