For the OAU the issue, for several years, was so divisive as to threaten the organization’s continued viability. After the OAU seated a Polisario delegation in 1982, more than one-third of the member government threatened to boycott meetings or withdraw from membership. In 1984, when the Polisario representatives resumed a seat at the twentieth OAU summit, Morocco withdrew from membership and Zaire suspended participation in the organization. The following year Morocco declared that it would negotiate only with Algria, not the Polisario, and that the United Nations, not the OAU, was the appropriate body to act as an agent for a settlement.