Morocco to host African summit to ‘rejoin’ bloc

Marrakesh / AFP

Morocco is to host an African summit later on Wednesday as the kingdom presses a bid to rejoin the continental bloc 32 years after walking out in protest at its position on the Western Sahara.
Some 30 leaders are due to take part, including those of English-speaking states like Kenya and Nigeria as well as Morocco’s traditional allies among French-speaking West African nations.
The summit is being held on the sidelines of annual climate change talks and the calls of African leaders for more funding from developed nations to cut fossil fuel emissions and take contingency measures will also loom large.
It will be an opportunity for African leaders to “coordinate their positions and speak with one voice to defend them,” a senior Moroccan diplomat said.
“Developed countries must shoulder their historical responsibility for emissions,” Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh told the climate change talks on Tuesday. The UN, too, called for more money, especially for “adaptation”—shoring up defences against global warming’s effects.