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The first day of the Geneva «round-table» kicked off on Wednesday afternoon, December the 5th. The UN Secretary-General’s Envoy for Western Sahara spent the morning of that day meeting with the officials heading the four delegations, coming from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Tindouf Camps.
Horst Köhler met with Foreign Ministers from Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania, Nasser Bourita, Abdelkader Messahel and Ismail Ould Cheikh respectively, in a hotel. On the other hand, it is not known whether he spoke with Khatri Adduh, the Polisario’s «speaker of parliament».
During these meetings, the German diplomat intended to pave the way for the official discussions that started that afternoon through a session devoted to the «recent developments» of the territorial dispute. During this meeting, Köhler and the four delegations were supposed to voice their «remarks», as indicated in the «round-table»’s schedule, Yabiladi took a look at.
In the evening, all delegations had to gather around another table, but this time at a dinner hosted by the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Banned from speaking to media
On Thursday, representatives from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario will participate to another working session, to discuss the «opportunities and challenges of regional integration». «The Moroccan delegation is expected to spotlight the royal initiative addressed to Algeria», a well-informed source told Yabiladi on Wednesday.
On Thursday afternoon, December the 6th, Horst Köhler's guests will be invited to participate to a third working session devoted to the «next steps of the political process in Western Sahara», which will feature an introduction presented by the UN envoy Horst Köhler.
At the end of the day, the four delegations should sign a final communiqué summarizing the Geneva round-table. This will be followed by a press briefing that will be hosted by Horst Köhler. The latter asked the four parties to refrain from speaking to reporters in order not to leak the content of the three working sessions.
