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African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa
Photo: Tiksa Negeri/ REUTERS
The African Union has justified the exclusion of an Israeli diplomat from a summit meeting of African countries on Sunday.
Diplomat Sharon Bar-Li was led out of the room by security officials during a meeting of African heads of state and government in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Saturday.
According to an AU spokeswoman, she had no access authorization.
Israel's observer status has been hotly debated within the AU for months.
The diplomat was "properly expelled" because she was neither invited to the summit nor had accreditation, the spokeswoman for the responsible AU commission said on Twitter on Sunday.
Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat granted observer status to Israel in 2021.
This is being questioned by member countries such as South Africa and Algeria.
Now a committee is to clarify the status.
South Africa welcomed the expulsion of the Israeli representative.
Government spokeswoman Mahlongi Bhongu-Motsiri called Israel an "apartheid state".
"Only a two-state solution can put an end to the hardships the Palestinians are suffering at the hands of Israeli forces," Bhongu-Motsiri said.
The two-state solution means that one day there will be an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said it took the incident very seriously.
There is a clear majority in the AU that supports observer status for Israel.
A total of 55 countries belong to the African Union.
mic/dpa
