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The United States ambassador to Algeria John P. Desrocher, is on a two-day trip to the Polisario. Arrived, Wednesday 28th of March, in the Tindouf airport, he was greeted by Algerian officials and members of the Front. The American diplomat then headed to the Tindouf camps, where he spoke to young Sahrawis.
Desrocher’s visit comes as the United Nations Secretary General is working on his annual report, assessing the situation in Western Sahara. A report usually followed by a Security Council resolution, demanding to extend the MINURSO’s mandate for another year.
The former Polisario’s representative in Washington was waiting for the ambassador
For time being, John P. Desrocher has not officially met yet with members of the Polisario leadership. Nevertheless, he would have had the opportunity, on his way to the Tindouf camps, to meet Mohamed Yeslem Beissat, the «Laayoune camp’s governor» who was waiting for him at the Tindouf airport.
The man has managed to build a network of contacts in Washington, especially when he was appointed representative of the separatist movement in the United States. In 2013, Beissat succeeded, with the help of Algeria, in launching the «Western Sahara Caucus», a pro-Polisario lobby group in the US congress.
In fact this is not the first time that an American ambassador to Algeria visits the camps. In February 2016, former United States Ambassador to Algeria Joan A. Polaschik did the same thing. Dressed in a Malhfa (a traditional dress for Sahrawi women), the diplomat went to the Polisario Red Crescent headquarters and then visited an English-language school located in the «Smara camp».
During her visit to the camps, Joan A. Polaschik met with a group of young people carefully selected by the leadership of the Front to relay its propaganda. This move was beneficial for the Polisario and the Algerian tax authorities (which taxes the aid), as the Obama administration agreed to grant teh Sahrawi camps a 4-million dollars aid.
