Uganda was among the 39 countries that voted for Morocco to be readmitted as a member of the African Union (AU) on Monday at the African leaders summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
A source who followed the debate for Morocco to return to the continental body said that nine countries voted against it; the nine “were countries in Southern Africa, except Swaziland,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
President Museveni has been in Addis Ababa and chaired a special meeting of Uganda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Sudan discussing the problem of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) remnants roaming in those countries, on the sidelines of the Summit.
It lobbied intensely to rejoin the AU, some 30 years after it left the now-defunct Organisation of African Union after it recognised Western Sahara as an independent state. Morocco regards it as part of its territory.
Morocco left the pan-African bloc in 1984 after a majority of the member states recognized the disputed territory of Western Sahara as a member. It claims the territory in defiance of U.N. resolutions for a referendum on the independence.
Uganda was also fronting Dr. Warren Naamara, who is currently the Resident Representative for UNAIDS in Tanzania, for the position of AU Commissioner for Social Affairs but he was defeated.
