The Polisario ends up meeting MINURSO leader in Tindouf and not Bir Lahlou

On Thursday, September 19, MINURSO leader Colin Stewart visited Tindouf. In the camps, the Canadian UN peacekeeper held talks with the Polisario’s «Red Crescent» president Bouhnini Yahya, who asked UN officials to provide more international help. Stewart also visited a number of food depots.

This trip is the first of its kind, especially as the Polisario had insisted in the past on meeting the MINURSO leader in Bir Lahlou. This demand is meant to make the United Nations recognize the buffer zone as the movement’s new «capital». Both Colin Stewart and the United Nations rejected this condition.

Colin Stewart's visit comes as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is preparing his new report on the latest developments of the Western Sahara issue since the adoption of resolution 2468 last April.