For a country out in the cold, Morocco is making a ghostly footprint at the African Union (AU) summit in Durban, writes Jean-Jacques Cornish.

It has removed a number of players from the launch -- including officials from the departments of trade and foreign affairs, the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA) and senior journalists, including the Independent Newspaper Group's political editor, John Battersby -- by whisking them off to a three-day globalisation conference involving a week of all-expenses-paid comfort in Morocco.

Morocco quit the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) when the exiled Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic was admitted.

"It's complete nonsense," said Battersby. "I will not be preparing any paper. If they ask me to, I'll just talk."

SAIIA director Greg Mills said the conference at the closed campus of Al Akhawayn in Ifran would enable South African academics to interact with Moroccan counterparts. The issue of Western Sahara, which has reduced Morocco to pariah status in the OAU, would come up but not dominate proceedings.

Approached by the local Saharawi representative, Mohamed Beissat, to meet human rights activists in Morocco, Battersby declined. Said Beissat: "I approached Battersby because he has a reputation as a fair and balanced journalist. Frankly, I am disappointed at his response."

The status of Pandelani Mathoma, the foreign affairs department's acting chief director for North Africa, is uncertain. He is officially on leave, but the conference programme and the official Moroccan news agency list him as the department's official representative.

Colleagues say Mathoma will have some explaining to do to Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who openly disapproves of Morocco's continued occupation of the Western Sahara in defiance of the international community.

The visit and conference is third prize for the Moroccans, who first asked for a meeting of the South African-Morocco binational commission and were rebuffed. They then asked for a visit by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad, but this was also deemed inappropriate.

Morocco led a drive in Khartoum last week to block cooperation between the Organisation of Islamic Conferences and the AU, because it includes the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.