Image copyright AP Image caption Last month Morocco's King Mohammed VI met Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose country is hosting the AU summit 
 
 Morocco has formally announced its wish to rejoin the African Union, 32 years after leaving the organisation. 
 
 In a message to the AU summit in Rwanda, the Moroccan King Mohammed VI said the time had come for his country to retake its place within its institutional family. 
 
 Morocco left the AU in 1984, after the organisation recognised the independence of Western Sahara. 
 
 Moroccans describe Western Sahara as their country's "southern provinces". 
 
 For more than three decades, Morocco has refused to be part of the organisation. 
 
 In March, it threatened to pull its soldiers out of UN global peacekeeping missions because of the dispute. 
 
 Now, the Moroccan authorities seem to have concluded their absence hasn't helped them diplomatically over Western Sahara and many other issues, says the BBC's Africa Reporter James Copnall. 
 
 They sent a special envoy to lobby African leaders at their summit in the Rwandan capital Kigali this weekend. 
 
 The AU has said that it will continue pushing for the rights of the people of Western Sahara to hold a self-determination referendum. 
 
 Morocco is the only African country which is not an AU member. 
 
 How did we get here? ||||| Morocco has asked to rejoin the African Union (AU), 32 years after it quit the bloc in protest over a decision to make the disputed territory of Western Sahara a member. 
 
 In a message sent to an AU summit in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on Sunday, King Mohammed VI said it was time for Morocco to retake its place. 
 
 "For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family," he said in a speech to African leaders as they began a two-day meeting. 
 
 "The moment has now come." 
 
 According to MAP, the official Moroccan news agency, the monarch said that although his country had left the organisation, "it never quit Africa." 
 
 READ MORE: UN chief regrets Western Sahara 'occupation' comment 
 
 Morocco considers Western Sahara an important part of the kingdom. The Sahrawi people's Polisario Front movement, which demands self-determination for Western Sahara, wants a referendum on independence. 
 
 Earlier this year, Morocco ordered the UN to pull out several of its staff members and to close down a military liaison office for the MINURSO peacekeeping mission in response to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's use of the term "occupation" to describe Morocco's presence in Western Sahara. 
 
 In his message, King Mohammed urged the AU to reconsider its stance on what he called the "phantom state", saying that a political solution was being worked on under the supervision of the UN. 
 
 Western Sahara is not a member of either the UN or the Arab League, he said, adding that "at least 34 countries do not recognise it. 
 
 "On the Sahara issue, institutional Africa can no longer bear the burden of a historical error and a cumbersome legacy," the King said. 
 
 "Through this historic act and return, Morocco wants to work within the AU to transcend divisions." 
 
 Morocco's return to the AU would need to be validated by a vote.
– Morocco left the African Union in 1984 in protest of the organization recognizing Western Sahara's independence, though Morocco viewed the territory as its "southern provinces." Now it wants back in—but it's not about to give up the fight, reports the BBC. "For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them," King Mohammed VI said in a message to African leaders at an AU summit in Rwanda on Sunday, per Al Jazeera. "The moment has now come." He also took the opportunity to ask the AU to rethink its position on Western Sahara, which he referred to as the "phantom state." AU members will now vote on whether to accept Morocco's return.