Yabiladi
Mohammed Jaabouk
Latifa Babas
(Translation)
Brahim Ghali left the headquarters of the African Union without meeting the main figures of the continental grouping, as did his “Minister of Foreign Affairs”, who held no talks with his African supposed “counterpart”.
Once again, the Polisario media, including its official press agency, did not report any high-level meetings of Brahim Ghali on the sidelines of the 33rd ordinary summit of the African Union, held February 9 and 10 in Addis Ababa.
The separatist movement’s media shared only the meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and the photo taken during this occasion. Brahim Ghali left Addis Ababa on Tuesday and headed to the Kenyan capital to attend the funeral of the East African country’s former President Daniel Arap Moie, without having been able to meet with his traditional backers, such as Algeria’s Abdelmadjid Tebboune and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa .
The latter, and unlike his Algerian counterpart, reduced his country’s support for the Polisario to a few words spoken during a speech after his inauguration as president in office of the African Union, replacing Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al Sissi.
The Polisario and its diplomacy based on photos
Ramaphosa simply “reiterated” his unwavering support for «the people of Palestine in the legitimate quest for an independent and sovereign state and the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination», the official website of the South African presidency reported.
It is worth mentioning that in Addis Ababa, the South African president had major concerns. He was committed, behind the scenes, to convincing his African peers to vote in favor of his candidate, Wamkele Mene, for the position of general secretary of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Zlecaf).
On the eve of the 33rd AU summit, a South African delegation declined an invitation to go to Bir Lahlou to meet Brahim Ghali, well-informed sources told Yabiladi. Instead, the meeting took place at Camp Rabouni on the Algerian territory, forcing the Polisario chief to suspend a work session of his army, which was held precisely in Bir Lahlou.
If Ghali was unable to meet with Africa’s leaders in Addis Ababa, his “foreign minister” did not fare any better. The Polisario media in Tindouf camps as well as in the major cities of the Sahara, did not mention any interview of Mohamed Ould Salek with his “African counterparts”, which raises questions.
