Polisario : Will Moussa Faki agree to meet Brahim Ghali in Bir Lahlou ?

After visiting Morocco last week, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission is expected to fly for the Tindouf camps in the coming days. «He is to be in the camps on the 28th and 29th of June», a source who requested anonymity told yabiladi.

The meeting with the Polisario leader is another step in Faki’s consultations with parties related to the Western Sahara conflict before presenting his report at the 31st AU summit, scheduled for the 1st and 2nd of July in Mauritania.

During the meeting the Chadian diplomat will unveil the continental organization’s proposals for the settlement of the territorial dispute.

For the record, on the 5th and 6th of June, Faki met Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in Rabat. The African Union stressed in a communiqué issued following the visit that it was an «opportunity to take stock of the integration efforts at continental level, particularly through the African Continental Free Trade Area and other related projects, and at regional level, through the reactivation of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU)».

As pointed out by Yabiladi in a previous paper on the visit, the communiqué did not refer to discussions on the Western Sahara.

Moussa Faki in Bir Lahlou

In March, the Front was the first party to announce that Moussa Faki is to attend meetings in Morocco and Tindouf.

«The Front’s objective is to see the Chairperson of the African Union Commission in Bir Lahlou. For weeks, Faki has been pressured by the Polisario and its allies in the African Union. They mainly want to make him meet Brahim Ghali in the area east of the berm and not in the Rabouni camp in Algeria», said the same source.

Only the former UN Secretary–General Ban Ki-moon went to Bir Lahlou in an official visit. The Front tried in vain to convince the current head of the MINURSO Colin Stewart to move his meetings with the movement to the above-mentioned area.

In resolution 2414, the UN Security-Council expressed concerns as the Polisario Front «announced the relocation of administrative facilities to Bir Lahlou».