The UN envoy for the Sahara visits Mauritania

Sep. 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The UN special envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, met this Monday in Nouakchott with the president of Mauritania, Mohamed Uld Sheikh el Ghazuani, as part of his tour of the countries of the region.

El Ghazuani received De Mistura at the Presidential Palace in the Mauritanian capital at a meeting in which the African country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Uld Marzuk, and the director of the Presidential Office, Ismail Uld Sheikh, were also present. Ahmed, reports the public radio station Radio Mauritania.

De Mistura took office in October 2021, after a long vacancy during which the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front was considered broken and in which Rabat and Algiers broke off diplomatic relations.

The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum, but Differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers have so far prevented its convening.