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A few hours before Staffan de Mistura arrived in the Tindouf camps, Polisario leader Brahim Ghali dismissed Mohamed Sidati, the Polisario's so-called «Minister of Foreign Affairs» who had been appointed in February 2023.
He was replaced by Mohamed Yeslem Beissat, a member of the Rguibates tribe, Oulad Cheikh faction. Since November 2020, Beissat had been heading the Polisario’s representation in South Africa. «This appointment was expected, given the deep disagreements between Mohamed Sidati and Brahim Ghali», a former Polisario member who has since joined Morocco told Yabiladi. Sidati had notably been absent from Ghali’s recent trips abroad, particularly to Uruguay and Namibia.
After Mohamed Abdelaziz’s death in June 2016, Beissat was considered a potential successor. He previously served as the Polisario’s representative in Washington and led the so-called «Dakhla camp» before relocating to Pretoria.
This reshuffle comes amid growing diplomatic setbacks for the Front, particularly in South America, where Peru, Panama, and Ecuador have withdrawn their recognition of the so-called «Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)». In Africa, the separatist movement is also losing ground: during the last African Union summit in February in Addis Ababa, the Western Sahara issue was absent from the final declaration.
The new «Minister of Foreign Affairs» has built ties in Southern Africa, particularly with South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe—countries that, along with Algeria, remain the Polisario’s last key allies on the continent.
