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Morocco request to join ECOWAS

30K views 266 replies 27 participants last post by  CasaMor 
#1 ·
Morocco has always made West Africa a priority in African politics, said Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, on Wednesday.

Speaking to Radio French International (RFI), Bourita talked about Morocco’s request to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a full-fledged member.

Morocco is the number one investor in this region. Morocco has participated in many peacekeeping and crisis management operations [in West Africa],” Bourita said.

Asked about Morocco’s African policy, Bourita, said, “The human and religious ties between Morocco and West Africa are deeply rooted. The economic presence also of Morocco in this zone is very strong.

In February, during the king’s tour of the continent, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Salaheddine Mezouar informed the president of the ECOWAS of Morocco’s interest in joining the organization.

Founded in 1975 following the Treaty of Lagos in Nigeria, ECOWAS is a 15-member regional group, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’ Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

Geographically, Morocco is west of Africa. So all the elements are there to support its candidacy,” added Bourita, who was alongside King Mohammed VI during his meeting with the French president on Tuesday at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Bourita also met with France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, according to France Diplomatie.

The two ministers met to take stock of the French-Moroccan partnership and discuss regional affairs as well as issues peace, development and security in Africa.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/05/215598/ecowas-west-africa-always-a-priority-for-morocco-says-foreign-minister/
 
#4 ·
Morocco applying to join ECOWAS – Issues to consider

Morocco has recently expressed interest in joining the West African regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The news was received with mixed feelings across the region, and questions are being asked.

Located in North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the distance between Morocco and Ghana in West Africa is some 2714km.

A country that takes pride in its Arab heritage and culture, in spite of the mixture of Berber and the influence of European cultures, Morocco is more Arab than anything else.

With a population of some 35 million people, Morocco until recently wasn’t even a member of the African Union (AU). The country left the continental organization for more than 30 years over the AU’s recognition of Western Sahara, a territory that Morocco laid claims to. Early this year, it reapplied to the AU and was readmitted. That wasn’t surprising, but Morocco’s recent expression of interest to join the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS is raising eyebrows.

ECOWAS is a regional bloc of some 15 countries close to each other, and mostly sharing borders. The countries are Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Benin and Cape Verde.

While this won’t be the first time that north African countries have joined organisations originally meant exclusively for countries in other regions of Africa, as Libya and Egypt are members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a group of countries in East and South Africa, Morocco’s bid to join ECOWAS sounds bizarre.

The country Morocco

With its diverse Arab, Berber and influence of European culture, Morocco describes itself as a constitutional monarchy. In 2011 it adopted a new Constitution, which laid the grounds for what it describes as a more open and democratic society, with separation of powers and increased decentralization. Despite the claim to democracy, the monarchy has a tight grip on the country.

Its economy

The World Bank reports that after a good performance in 2015, the Moroccan economy is decelerating in 2016. Economic activity slowed to 1.4 per cent in the second quarter as a result of a 12.1 per cent contraction in agriculture production, while growth outside the agriculture sector remained sluggish at around 2.5 per cent. Inflation has remained muted at under 2 per cent, reflecting prudent monetary policy and the fall in international commodity prices.

The Bank further indicates that based on performance since the beginning of 2016, Morocco is expected to reduce its fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of GDP.

“This would be the result of strong revenue performance and the continued reduction in consumption subsidies. Morocco should thus be able to stabilize its central government debt at around 64 per cent of GDP,” it said.

The country’s trade deficit narrowed down in recent years as a result of fiscal consolidation efforts and the emergence of Morocco’s new industries, especially automobiles. The current account deficit should not exceed 1.5 per cent of GDP for 2016, and Morocco’s international reserves reached $24.9 billion—the equivalent of 7.3 months’ worth of imports at end-June 2016, the World Bank said.

Considering its sound economic performance, despite all the headwinds, which is an indication that Morocco might be seeking to take advantage of the West African economy – with a population of 335 million, West Africa has a GDP of $345 billion, and Morocco already has bilateral relations with almost all the 15 countries of the ECOWAS.

While Morocco might be a good trading partner as it is also one of the leading producers of phosphate in Africa, there are already existing trade relations with these countries, raising questions about the exact reasons behind Morocco’s interest in becoming a member of ECOWAS.


...
https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2017/03/09/morocco-applying-to-join-ecowas-issues-to-consider/
 
#5 ·
The ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Governance

The ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance Article 1, emphasizes on separation of powers, and among others the independence of the Judiciary and judges.

The Protocol is also clear on the secularism and neutrality of the State in all matters relating to religion, but does not preclude the right of the State to regulate with due respect to human rights.

Besides, ECOWAS protocols such as this one are binding. What that means is that, for a constitutional monarchy that operates quite differently, it remains to be seen how Morocco can subject itself to these universal principles of this particular ECOWAS protocol.

African integration dynamics

In March 2006, at an AU Summit in Banjul, the African Union — in its wisdom — decided and resolved to rationalise the numerous regional economic communities (RECs) from 14 to 8, so that each region would have its own “regional” reference. This meant that, for example, West Africa’s REC would be recognised as ECOWAS (even as there is UEMOA / etc); and in Central Africa (where discussions to rationalise the groupings there are far advanced than in West Africa), the only REC would be ECCAS.

Now, something seismic is happening in Africa’s integration. The request by North Africa’s Morocco to join ECOWAS does not only complicate Africa’s integration efforts, but makes nonsense of that 2006 decision as it will set a horrible precedent for any country to find justifiable and self-serving reasons to join any REC they want. We do know Rwanda re-joined ECCAS last year, and now belongs to both the East African Community and ECCAS. This may be problematic but not at the scale of Morocco wanting to join ECOWAS.

This Moroccan request has been troubling since the news broke. Algeria, long-term nemesis of Morocco, is deeply-troubled by Morocco’s request. In articles in both the Moroccan and Algerian press, it is clear there is no love lost between the neighbours, and that Algeria remains confused by Morocco’s apparently, inexplicable turn to West Africa.

In the event that Morocco’s adhesion to ECOWAS happens, it will serve a bad precedent for Africa’s integration by allowing any AU Member State to subject the flawed AU to its whims and caprices. Already, that Chad got the AU Commission position over Kenya’s Amina Mohammed by just two votes reflects, it is speculated, how Deby used his influence as AU Chair to leverage and rally support for the dark horse that was Chad’s Moussa Faki Mahamat.

Although one has yet to read of or detect any resistance from the West African diplomats in Abuja, what we now know is that, the Togolese government has registered its opposition. In a faux pas by the state-supporting republicoftogo.com, it posted days after the request to join ECOWAS on February 24 that the Togolese government “is not hostile to the adhesion” of Morocco. Now, an article on the same site that was posted March 3, explained that the Presidency had denounced the assertion that he would use all his influence to support Morocco’s bid.

A recent interview of ECOWAS Commission President Marcel de Souza to RFI sounds neutral in its opinion of the fate of Morocco. When you read between the lines, de Souza’s insistence that it will be up to the Authority of Heads of State to decide, — and that admitting Morocco will set a “precedent” — speaks volumes about the fate of Morocco.

Why Ecowas, and not CEN-SAD

Even more curious is why Morocco did not opt for the 28-member CEN-SAD, which was established by the late Qaddafi in 1998.

In 2014, at the cusp of Morocco’s hosting of A CEN-SAD meeting, Carnegie Endowment wrote “Of these alliances, CEN-SAD must be particularly attractive to Morocco, for several reasons. Its preeminence in the organization will likely go uncontested; no other member has the spur, stature, and stability to lead it. Other potential leaders (namely Nigeria and Kenya) are firmly ensconced as anchor states in existing, functional RECs—Nigeria in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Kenya in the East African Community (EAC), among others.”

It went on to argue, “Egypt remains deeply embroiled in regional diplomacy and its own internal affairs, and Algeria’s absence from CEN-SAD should allow Morocco free reign to guide the organization independent of its neighbor. Moreover, the Kingdom may enjoy novel forms of influence within a REC based on a projection of Africa’s Arab and Muslim North into the continent’s South; CEN-SAD, apparently an abbreviation taken from Arabic letters sin and sad (for al-sahil and al-sahara), covers over half of Africa’s nations, and what unites such a diverse set of countries—from the Gambia to the Comoros, and Somalia to Sierra Leone—more than any connection to ecoclimatic or environmental conditions, is Islam.”

Chad and Morocco share an important affinity: both have sought to become members of ECOWAS, and both have played instrumental roles in CEN-SAD, too.

The Chad factor

In 2011, Chad was, in fact, granted observer status of ECOWAS. Then the Mali coup happened in 2012 — and suddenly, Chad was offered support to the Africa-led support mission in Mali (AFISMA) to the tune of around 3000 troops, which is around a third of what all ECOWAS troops offered.

One of the critical reasons why Chad was an important country to look out for was what happened in February 2013 when Chad’s President Idris Deby hosted some eleven leaders of the CENSAD regional economic community. The capital N’djamena played host to what should have been twenty members of the populous grouping. Even if a little over a third of the Heads of State showed up, it was encouraging to see that the 17 other member states dispatched representatives. Furthermore, it has shown that the raison d’être for the establishment of the grouping might still be relevant.

Some of the major outcomes included a revision of the Charter, to reflect the fact that the organisation is interested in two major things: peace and security; and sustainable development. Two permanent organs will be established to this end, and Egypt is likely to host the peace and security organ. That Egypt was, in 2016 at a CEN-SAD meeting, recommended as the headquarters of the host of Counter-terrorism Centre, speaks to a level of confidence reposed increasingly by African states of North African countries on security matters.

One wonders, given Morocco’s acknowledged world-class expertise on counter-terrorism, why it did not consider using CEN-SAD as an opportunity to reinvent itself on the continental stage — as it appears it wants to do by joining ECOWAS. The real question — as may be asked of Tunisia that has also expressed an interest in joining ECOWAS — is whether ECOWAS really needs Morocco!

https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2017/03/09/morocco-applying-to-join-ecowas-issues-to-consider/
 
#7 ·
Dude! This is becoming an obsession! 3 topics closed already, like this one is gonna survive more than 24 hours? reviving athread about mauritania wanting to join from years ago, just to talk about this subject? what's the matter with you? did you get molested by a morrocan or something?
 
#9 ·
I don't think Morocco could stand free travel and a unique currency with West Africans.

For decades they identified themselves as a different people so the backlash would come from everyday Moroccans themselves, despite what the business elites want.

At the same time Ecowas shouldn't ditch the single currency and stop progressing because of Morocco, making ad hoc rules to fit its needs.

Let's not create our own version of the EU-UK affair.
 
#18 ·


ECOWAS: Abidjan confirms support for Morocco's accession

The Ivorian authorities have been favorable to the candidature of the Shereefian kingdom to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). For the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance, the accession of Morocco will be a plus for the economic weight of the zone.

The countries of West Africa seem to see only good in the integration of Morocco in the ECOWAS. Côte d'Ivoire, through its Minister of Economy and Finance, has just demonstrated its support for the candidacy of the Shereefian kingdom.

"If Morocco is admitted to ECOWAS, it will only give a greater economic weight to the zone," said Minister Adama Koné in the middle of last week at a conference on "Country Risk Coast D'Ivoire "organized by the financial rating agency Bloomfield Investment.

According to him, the most important is that the opening made in Morocco can benefit the Ivorian economy with an investment contribution. "Côte d'Ivoire remains a country open to Morocco, but also to other countries (...). Our country needs capital that it can not mobilize from its internal resources, "added the Ivorian government financier. Cote d'Ivoire thus joins the chairman of the ECOWAS Commission Alain Marcel de Souza, who himself is very supportive of Morocco. We will "set up a joint commission so that in a month and a half, we can sign an economic partnership agreement declaring Morocco as privileged partner of ECOWAS," said the chairman of the commission.

But Morocco will not need much to gain acceptance in ECOWAS. The Kingdom of Mohammed VI already has very good relations with many countries in the area and has had observer status in ECOWAS for several years.

Morocco in ECOWAS, it's coming soon

The president of the ECOWAS Commission had already set the timetable for this integration, saying that in a month and a half, everything will be done. Aware of the fruitful partnerships already existing between Morocco and several West African countries, he knows that there will be no resistance to this initiative. The Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance, for his part, gave the example of the Bay of Cocody which was abandoned. This bay will be exploited and developed by Moroccan capital and Côte d'Ivoire will be able to use it by making it a tourist attraction. Moreover, in September 2016, Abidjan and Rabat had concluded a partnership agreement to build a drug production plant in Ivory Coast. In Senegal, another economic giant of ECOWAS, Morocco set up an office in February of its national tourist office. This is to strengthen tourism cooperation between sub-Saharan Africa and Morocco.

...
Cedeao : Abidjan confirme son appui à l'adhésion du Maroc

Les autorités ivoiriennes se sont montrées favorables à la candidature du royaume chérifien pour adhérer à la Communauté économique des Etats de l'Afrique de l'ouest (CEDEAO). Pour le ministre ivoirien de l'économie et des finances, l'adhésion du Maroc sera un plus pour le poids économique de la zone.

Les pays de l'Afrique de l'ouest ne semblent voir que du bien dans l'intégration du Maroc dans la Cedeao. La Côte d'Ivoire, par la voix de son ministre de l'économie et des finances vient de montrer son soutien à la candidature du royaume chérifien.

« Si le Maroc est admis au sein de la Cedeao, cela ne pourra que donner un poids économique plus important à la zone », a déclaré le ministre Adama Koné en milieu de semaine dernière lors d'une la Conférence sur le « Risque pays Côte d'Ivoire » organisée par l'agence de notation financière Bloomfield Investment.

Selon lui, le plus important est que l'ouverture faite au Maroc puisse profiter à l'économie ivoirienne avec un apport en investissement. « La Côte d'ivoire reste un pays ouvert au Maroc, mais également aux autres pays (...). Notre pays a besoin de capitaux qu'elle ne peut mobiliser à partir de ses ressources internes », a ajouté l'argentier du gouvernement ivoirien. La Côte d'Ivoire rejoint ainsi le président de la commission de la Cedeao Alain Marcel de Souza qui lui-même est très favorable au Maroc. Nous allons « mettre au point une commission paritaire pour que, dans un mois et demi, on puisse signer un accord de partenariat économique déclarant le Maroc comme associé privilégié de la CEDEAO », avait déclaré le président de la commission.

Mais le Maroc n'aura pas besoin de grand-chose pour se faire accepter dans la Cedeao. Le Royaume de Mohammed VI entretient déjà de très bonnes relations avec beaucoup de pays de la zone et jouit d'un statut d'observateur dans la Cedeao depuis plusieurs années.

Le Maroc dans la Cedeao, c'est pour bientôt

Le président de la Commission de la Cedeao avait déjà établi le calendrier pour cette intégration, en disant que dans un mois et demi, tout sera fait. Conscient des partenariats fructueux déjà existants entre le Maroc et plusieurs pays ouest-africains, il sait qu'il n'y aura pas de résistances à cette initiative. Le ministre ivoirien de l'économie et des finances avait quant à lui, donné l'exemple de la Baie de Cocody qui était à l'abandon. Cette baie sera exploitée et mise en valeur par des capitaux marocains et la Côte d'Ivoire pourra s'en servir en faisant d'elle une attraction touristique. De plus, en septembre 2016 dernier, Abidjan et Rabat avaient conclu un accord de partenariat prévoyant la construction d'une usine de production de médicament en terre ivoirienne. Au Sénégal, un autre géant économique de la Cedeao, le Maroc y a installé en février dernier un bureau de son office national du tourisme. Ceci dans le but de renforcer la coopération touristique entre l'Afrique subsaharienne et le Maroc.

...

http://afrique.latribune.fr/politique/integration-regionale/2017-04-12/cedeao-abidjan-confirme-son-appui-a-l-adhesion-du-maroc.html
 
#28 ·
how do we spread democracy when we have an islamic kingdom in ecowas? a poisonous kingdom that couldn't even get along with its fellow NA brothers. now if only we allow these white saviors in they will solve all our problems. why didn't morocco stop terrorism in libya. yet it will finish boko haram in nigeria. nonsense
 
#29 ·
how do we spread democracy when we have an islamic kingdom in ecowas?
Oh please, since when religion has anything to do with politics ?I'm an atheist, and I live in Morocco just fine. It's one of the most secular Islamic countries out there.

a poisonous kingdom that couldn't even get along with its fellow NA brothers
Wrong, we maintain good relationships with Mauritania,Tunisia,Libya,Egypt. We don't get along with Algeria, because they want to contest our sovereignty over our territories.

now if only we allow these white saviors in they will solve all our problems
Can you make your point without resorting to lame-ass racial slurs ? really ! just because you're black it doesn't give you the right to shit on other people who's color tone is slightly brighter than you. :bash::bash::bash: You're the one who have racial superiority complex.

why didn't morocco stop terrorism in libya. yet it will finish boko haram in nigeria. nonsense
Because they didn't request our help ? Libya is a sovereign country, and we respect other people choices. And even if they did, we don't have political structures to do so.
 
#41 ·
Nope, I just won't bother wasting my time talking to a brick wall. I can explain my arguments all day to you but I can't understand them for you. You guys are not open to learning, you just want to regurgitate your tired misconceptions and stereotypes about Morocco and frankly, my time is more valuable to me to spend it on a hopeless cause. Regardless of that, the word retards is a bit harsh and I apologise.
Cheers, and peace out!
 
#42 ·
Morocco is in North Africa, and should be working hard to create a good relationship with their neighbors in the Maghreb bloc and interact with actual West Africans through the African Union which they recently joined. This is like Egypt joining the East African community, or South Africa, the EAC.
 
#46 · (Edited)
Also, what Morocco tried to do with the EU, what Morocco is doing with Gulf countries and now is trying to do with Africa has all to do with its confused identity.
That is the main problem that needs to be addressed.
Dude, we consider ourselves Moroccans first. We are Amazighs, Africans, Arabs, Jews, Andalusians, Mediterraneans... etc we don't give that much crap about ethnicity when dealing with our partners across the world.

Morocco is in North Africa, and should be working hard to create a good relationship with their neighbors in the Maghreb bloc and interact with actual West Africans through the African Union which they recently joined. This is like Egypt joining the East African community, or South Africa, the EAC.
We tried to make it work for decades, looks like we have reached a dead end.
Mauritania and Tunisia want to join ECOWAS too.

Someone on here claimed that Morocco was a secular nation despite having an official state religion (Sunni Islam).

Anything to say about that?
So by your logic kingdom of Sweden/England/Liechtenstein/Spain(Until recently) are not secular because they have a religion of the state ?
We have many non-muslim African immigrants/students here in Morocco, and they are free to practice their religion.
 
#48 ·
We tried to make it work for decades, looks like we have reached a dead end.
Mauritania and Tunisia want to join ECOWAS too.


So by your logic kingdom of Sweden/England/Liechtenstein/Spain(Until recently) are not secular because they have a religion of the state ?
We have many non-muslim African immigrants/students here in Morocco, and they are free to practice their religion.

It depends on whether there are blasphemy laws in place to stifle genuine discussion about the veracity of any and all religions - that is the hallmark of a 'secular' state.
 
#47 ·
Morocco managed to maintain close relationships with follow African countries, even when we were outside of the AU. Morocco is the second largest investor in Africa, with over 85% of it's direct foreign investments are done in Africa in non-mining sectors. We were never truly out of Africa.

 
#68 ·
I will never understand the stubbornness of Moroccan posters.

A North African self identified Arab country trying to join the same club of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and then getting mad when they discover that

1- we don't like colonialism
2- we don't like who's ready to side with colonisers than with us
3- we don't consider Arabs to be nothing more than North Africans (and Arabs do as well)
4- we don't forget the past (Morocco trying to join the Eu)

Not in thousand years Nigeria will be less West African than Morocco.
 
#83 ·
^^ The prospective famine in the north east of Nigeria is because of the nutcases who claim to follow Mohammed and not because of a lack of potash or phosphate.

There's no food shortage in Maiguduri (a major city in the north east) not to speak of other cities in the country.

If you're going to obsess over Nigeria at least educate yourself on the issues.
 
#85 · (Edited)
In short.
Morocco has something that Nigeria needs (phosphate), and Nigeria has something that Morocco needs (gaz), if we manage to put our differences aside, and combine these two elements, then we'll be producing enough fertilizers to assure the food security of the whole continent, if not the world.
If we don't cooperate, we'll have to keep buying expensive fertilizers, made with our natural resources, from the west.

Morocco and Gabon are already producing 30% of Africa's needs of fertilizers. Imagine how much more fertilizers we'll be able to produce locally, if we reach an agreement.

Morocco, Gabon sign deal for $2.3 bln fertiliser joint-venture

LIBREVILLE, March 7 (Reuters) - Morocco and Gabon have signed a $2.3 billion joint-venture deal to construct fertiliser factories to serve Africa's growing agricultural market, as the North African kingdom seeks to expand its investments south of the Sahara.

The deal, signed during a three-day visit by Moroccan King Mohamed VI to Libreville during a tour of the region, envisages the construction of two factories in each country, making use of Moroccan phosphates and Gabonese natural gas.

Morocco's Trade Minister Moulay Hafid Alamy said the project's production capacity would reach 2 million tonnes of fertiliser a year by 2018, all destined for the sub-Saharan African market. It would create a total of 5,000 jobs in the two countries.

"This deal confirms the friendly relations between Morocco and Gabon," he said at the signing late on Thursday.

Morocco, which has long had strong ties with Libreville, is one of the largest African investors in the oil-rich central African country, present in the telecoms, banking, mining and shipping sectors.

The deal foresees the construction of a plant in Gabon to produce ammonia from natural gas - the first of its kind in the region - and a factory to turn this into fertiliser in the oil hub of Port Gentil.

Two plants producing phosphoric acid will be built in Morocco to process phosphate from the Oulad Abdoun basin, in the province of Khouribga, as well as a fertiliser plant.

The agreement also foresees technology exchange between the two countries. (Reporting by Jean-Rovys; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Emma Farge)
http://af.reuters.com/article/gabonNews/idAFL6N0M41LC20140307
 
#86 ·
In short.
Morocco has something that Nigeria needs (phosphate), and Nigeria has something that Morocco needs (gaz), if we manage to put our differences aside, and combine these two elements, then we'll be producing enough fertilizers to assure the food security of the whole continent, if not the world.
If we don't cooperate, we'll have to keep buying expensive fertilizers, made with our natural resources, from the west.

Morocco and Gabon are already producing 30% of Africa's needs of fertilizers. Imagine how much more fertilizers we'll be able to produce locally, if we reach an agreement.



http://af.reuters.com/article/gabonNews/idAFL6N0M41LC20140307
i agree there should be more investment within africa
 
#89 ·
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have more legitimate ties to West Africa than some Arab nation in the North of Africa; the thought of Morocco joining ECOWAS is hilarious, I can't believe there are actually people entertaining the idea.
 
#91 · (Edited)
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have more legitimate ties to West Africa than some Arab nation in the North of Africa; the thought of Morocco joining ECOWAS is hilarious, I can't believe there are actually people entertaining the idea.
This nation has been an African nation over a 1000 years before your country was created, and it is geographically further West than yours and has had a strong relationship with other West African nations for hundreds of years. :cheers:
 
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