The African Union on Monday agreed to readmit Morocco 33 years after it quit the bloc, in an emotional and difficult debate over the status of Western Sahara, according to presidents attending the summit.

"Morocco is now a full member of the African Union. There was a very long debate but 39 of our 54 states approved the return of Morocco, even if the Western Sahara question remains," Senegalese President Macky Sall told journalists.

Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, foreign minister of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, confirmed the decision to AFP.