Last March, the President of the ECOWAS Commission played the role of a doomsayer, saying that Morocco's bid to join the regional organization would be a step backward in the history of the organization. This Tuesday in Rabat, Marcel De Souza completely changed his opinion to the point that he even announced that the Kingdom's admission to the Economic Community of West African States will be formalized on December the 16th in Lome, Togo at the next summit. The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel De Souza, visited the Kingdom on Tuesday. He held talks separately with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Nasser Bourita, and Mohamed Boussaid the Minister of Finance. Speaking to the Moroccan Foreign Minister, the Beninese senior official has expressed his opinion about Morocco joining the Pan-African organization, changing completely his stands regarding that. Unlike what he said in the past, De Souza was happy to know that Rabat might be a member of ECOWAS. «The procedure of Morocco's accession to ECOWAS is on the right track and will be confirmed at the next ordinary session of the Community scheduled for the 16th of December in Lomé.» He added that «we are in a very agreeable ambiance (…) the different elements show a convergence of views of our heads of State and HM the King to settle in the long term, in the development and interests of both parties», he said in a statement reported by MAP news agency. De Souza changing his mind In March of the current year, De Souza described Morocco's bid to join ECOWAS as a «problem» that would be taken as a step backward in the history of the organization. He explained saying that by allowing Morocco in «they will run up against the text of the African Union which divided the continent into five distinct regions as Regional Economic Commissions. The King says where does the West stop ? Do we have to extend the West to the North then ?». The new position adopted by Marcel De Souza will surely create a lot of controversy around the African continent. Especially when those countries that chose to reject Morocco's bid openly such as Nigeria and South Africa (non-ECOWAS country) have made headlines in the Algerian media outlets. On the other hand, Tunisia's bid to join the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, known as COMESA was strangely not criticized by South Africa.
