‘Shocking’: South Africa slams Israel’s AU observer status

South Africa calls the AU’s move ‘unjust and unwarranted’, complaining it was taken without consulting its members.

South Africa’s government says it was “appalled” by the African Union Commission’s decision last week to grant Israel observer status at the African bloc. In a statement published on Wednesday, the South African government said the “unjust and unwarranted” move was taken “unilaterally without consultations with its members”. Israel obtained AU observer status on Friday after 20 years of diplomatic efforts. It had previously held the role at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) but was long thwarted in its attempts to regain it after the OAU was disbanded in 2002 and replaced by the AU.