The African Union Postpones Granting "Israel" Observer Status

The African Union has postponed taking a final position regarding granting "Israel" observer status in the Union until February's summit.

This comes after the bloc was set to make a decision on the matter during Friday's session. AU was to either cancel, freeze, or maintain the decision of granting "Israel" observer status. The pan-African body decided to postpone the decision following an Algeria and South Africa-led campaign against said decision.

Local media statements reported that Ramtane Lamamra, Algeria's Foreign Minister, considered the possibility of the Union accepting "Israel" as "irresponsible."

Earlier, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra had rejected the statements of African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, who insisted on granting “Israel” observer status in the pan-African organization.

He regretted that Nigeria's proposal drawn up with Algeria "was not accepted by an activist minority represented in Morocco and some of its close allies, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on July 22 that its ambassador to Ethiopia, Admasu Alali, had presented credentials as an African Union observer member.