Morocco withdrew from the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor to the AU, in 1984 when the OAU admitted Western Sahara — a region on the Atlantic coastline bordering Morocco to the north, Algeria to the east and Mauritania to the south.
Southern African countries have stepped up their lobbying for the independence of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a pact to support the territory’s “pursuit of decolonisation and self-determination.”
The 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the SADR, which governs a portion Western Sahara from exile, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on April 2, 2025, which they described as a significant milestone.
